Get 20M+ Full-Text Papers For Less Than $1.50/day. Start a 14-Day Trial for You or Your Team.

Learn More →

Queen Conch Lobatus gigas population estimates and age structure suggest a potential natural refuge on the Cay Sal Bank, The Bahamas

Queen Conch Lobatus gigas population estimates and age structure suggest a potential natural... Cultural and economic demands for queen conch, Lobatus gigas (Linnaeus, 1758), have led to the overexploitation of this iconic species throughout its range in the wider Caribbean. Fisheries managers have responded in many ways, from remaining idle to placing moratoriums on conch harvest, yet heavily harvested conch populations have been slow to recover, and descriptions of natural baselines are missing. The study describes a population of conch surveyed on the isolated, partially submerged, carbonate platform known as the Cay Sal Bank, The Bahamas, using traditional and interpolation techniques. Counts and shell measurements of conch within six study areas were obtained using 118 timed dive surveys over shallow water habitat (<20 m). The density and standing stock of adult conch were calculated using raw estimates, estimates retroactively standardized by distance, and estimates from Geographic Information Systems (GIS) kriging interpolation. All methods result in similar abundance estimates and include one of the highest abundances of conch found for decades in legally fishable waters within the Caribbean. Shell measurements revealed multiple‐year cohorts within the nurseries encountered, suggesting consistent recruitment. Lip thickness, a proxy for age, significantly increased with distance to Nassau in unprotected areas within The Bahamas, and Cay Sal Bank contains the second oldest average population observed in legally fishable waters. Media reports show that remote Bahamian banks are increasingly threatened by poaching as fishers deplete accessible stocks. Biophysical models demonstrate potential larval connectivity from Cay Sal Bank to both the Grand and Little Bahamas banks. We suggest protecting Cay Sal Bank as a modern baseline for conservation management and as a larval source located upstream of major Bahamian fishing grounds. http://www.deepdyve.com/assets/images/DeepDyve-Logo-lg.png Aquatic Conservation: Marine and Freshwater Ecosystems Wiley

Queen Conch Lobatus gigas population estimates and age structure suggest a potential natural refuge on the Cay Sal Bank, The Bahamas

Loading next page...
 
/lp/wiley/queen-conch-lobatus-gigas-population-estimates-and-age-structure-46kgAIMT3Q

References (57)

Publisher
Wiley
Copyright
© 2020 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
ISSN
1052-7613
eISSN
1099-0755
DOI
10.1002/aqc.3348
Publisher site
See Article on Publisher Site

Abstract

Cultural and economic demands for queen conch, Lobatus gigas (Linnaeus, 1758), have led to the overexploitation of this iconic species throughout its range in the wider Caribbean. Fisheries managers have responded in many ways, from remaining idle to placing moratoriums on conch harvest, yet heavily harvested conch populations have been slow to recover, and descriptions of natural baselines are missing. The study describes a population of conch surveyed on the isolated, partially submerged, carbonate platform known as the Cay Sal Bank, The Bahamas, using traditional and interpolation techniques. Counts and shell measurements of conch within six study areas were obtained using 118 timed dive surveys over shallow water habitat (<20 m). The density and standing stock of adult conch were calculated using raw estimates, estimates retroactively standardized by distance, and estimates from Geographic Information Systems (GIS) kriging interpolation. All methods result in similar abundance estimates and include one of the highest abundances of conch found for decades in legally fishable waters within the Caribbean. Shell measurements revealed multiple‐year cohorts within the nurseries encountered, suggesting consistent recruitment. Lip thickness, a proxy for age, significantly increased with distance to Nassau in unprotected areas within The Bahamas, and Cay Sal Bank contains the second oldest average population observed in legally fishable waters. Media reports show that remote Bahamian banks are increasingly threatened by poaching as fishers deplete accessible stocks. Biophysical models demonstrate potential larval connectivity from Cay Sal Bank to both the Grand and Little Bahamas banks. We suggest protecting Cay Sal Bank as a modern baseline for conservation management and as a larval source located upstream of major Bahamian fishing grounds.

Journal

Aquatic Conservation: Marine and Freshwater EcosystemsWiley

Published: Jul 1, 2020

Keywords: ; ;

There are no references for this article.