Katherine Cordy wrote:
> It is amazing that they don't run out of Conchs in the Bahamas and they have
> been bringing them in for hundreds of years and hundreds a day.  Their best
> food source.

Strombus gigas in Florida once supported big commercial harvests until
overharvesting decimated the population. A ban on harvesting Sg went in
in 1985 but the local conch population has not recovered. Some research
shows that nearshore Sg are incapable of spawning because of poor
gonadal condition, reproduction does occur offshore.

There are still a lot of Sg in the Bahamas, perhaps as many as 10% of
the population there when I first started diving there, maybe 20% in
deep water.

Get em while you can, they'll soon be rare.

m

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