CONCH - OUR MOST APPETIZING MOLLUSC

I had the pleasure of an outing to Cai this weekend and I have to say that one of my favourite features are the incredible mountains of artfully discarded conch shells piled up along the shore. Not only do they make great photographs, but they also tell us a fascinating story about the bay. Lac has been an important fishing ground for conch since pre-Colombian times and queen conch (Strombus gigas) are still a firm favourite and a much sought after local delicacy. But can we still claim to have "Bonairian conch"? Judging by the size of the recently discarded shells at Cai the answer is clearly "No!" In fact if things continue, we can expect to see the last of our Bonairian conch, even though the solution is right there in front of us.

Historically
Fishing for conch on Bonaire has a long history. Ancient middens of conch shells left by Bonaire's pre-Colombian inhabitants litter the bay. But the mountains of conch at Cai are something else entirely. They came into being after the 1930s when conch harvesting intensified to unprecedented levels. There are an estimated 250,000 discarded conch shells piled higgledy piggeldy at the water's edge and they are quite literally just the tip of the iceberg. At best they represent no more than two thirds of the total conch taken from the bay over a sixty year period. We know, for example, that thousands of additional conch were exported to Curacao in the 1950s. And of course we also know how attractive those empty shells, with their delicate pink glowing interior, are as souvenirs.

A quick calculation leaves the mind reeling: during its heyday the conch fishery in Lac must have been harvesting around 500 adult conch per month. That is a staggering number of conch, a veritable mountain of conch fritters and a substantial income for those enterprising conch fishermen.

A telling story

Our fishermen today are certainly not hauling hundreds of conch out of the seagrass beds and a quick survey of today's discarded conch shells tells a compelling and frightening story. Comparing the old, bleached white conch shells with today's beautiful, glowing, dusky pink shells reveals that the conch being harvested from the bay today are not adults at all but juveniles, many of them not even half way to adulthood.

Conch grow to maturity in between three and a half and five years. And anyone can tell an adult conch from a juvenile. When they become adult, conch develop a pronounced thickening and flattening of the outer shell margin called a "lip". You will see that practically all of the old bleached conch shells at Cai came from adult conch - they all have that characteristic lip. But not one of the beautifully coloured newly harvested shells on the conch piles has even the tentative beginnings of a lip. They are all juveniles. Naturally, not one of them therefore has had the chance to reproduce. The sad truth is that the discarded shells are getting smaller and smaller and that we are looking at conch on the brink of extinction.

Bonairian conch

There have been some attempts to manage the conch fishery in Lac. Marcultura, a former aquaculture facility, recognised the dire situation of conch in the bay in the 1980s and initiated a restocking programme. It was singularly unsuccessful. Marcultura released thousands of juvenile "yearling" conch into the bay in an attempt to restock the natural conch populations. Local fishermen were insufficiently involved in the project and the sudden emergence of a superabundance of undersize conch seems to have convinced them that "small is beautiful" and they have been consistently fishing for juvenile conch ever since.

Even so in the early 1990's snorkeling around Cai it was still possible to find one or two adult conch munching their way contentedly across the seagrass beds. Not so today. By 1998, when the Marine Park conducted a thorough survey of the bay, they found that not a single adult conch remained. What we are reaping now is the benefit of being located downstream of Los Roques and Las Aves. "Our" conch are in fact undoubtedly Venezuelan conch which have made the arduous journey to Lac as "veligers" (larvae). Carried along as part of the plankton in oceanic currents until they finally settle into the sandy areas of the bay where they can grow up unmolested. Unmolested that is, until they emerge into the seagrass beds as young juveniles.

The solution
The solution is simple and rests firmly in our hands. And the prize is tempting: a sustainable local fishery in Lac, capable of supplying hundreds of adult conch each month for local consumption. All we have to do is go back to the old ways and be patient. Take only adult conch. Leave the juveniles alone. Lac will work its magic for us and in time we too will have a flourishing conch fishery.