Commercial Trip LimitsRecreational Bag Limits

Queen Conch Compatibility in Federal and USVI Territorial Waters

144th Council MeetingDecember 19-20, 2012

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Queen Conch Harvest

Open Season : November 1 - May 31

St. Croix EEZ

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143rd Caribbean Council MeetingAugust 28-29, 2012

Motion to instruct the staff to prepare a document to make the queen conch EEZ regulations compatible with the USVI.

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Purpose for Action

• To establish compatible regulations for the harvest of queen conch between the U.S. EEZ and USVI territorial regulations.

• Compatibility of regulations will aid in the enforcement of such regulations and allow for better control of fishing pressure on the queen conch resource.

Jurisdiction Harvest Quota Closure Landing

Restrictions

Commercial and

Recreational Limits

Gear Restrictions

Size Limits(Minimum)

Federal waters(East of 64°34' W. long., which includes Lang Bank, STX, USVI)

50,000 lbs ACL

(Season closes when STX territorial limit is reached and closed) Jun 1 - Oct

31 (5 months)

Conch in or from the EEZ must be maintained with meat and shell intact.

Commercial: 150 conchs pers./day Recreational : 3 conchs/ pers./day or if more than 4 pers., 12/boat/day

No hookah gear allowed

9-in shell length from the spire to the distal end, or 3/8 inch lip thickness

USVI waters

50,000 lbs – STX50,000 lbs – STT/STJ

Conch must be landed alive and whole in the shell at final landing site

Commercial: 200 conchs/ boat/dayRecreational:

6 conchs/ pers./day, or 24 boat/day

Hookah use not prohibited but proposed to be restricted

No possession of conch meats smaller than 2 conchs per pound uncleaned or 3 conchs per pound cleaned.

Puerto Rico waters --- Aug 1 - Oct 31

(3 months)

Conch can be extracted from shell while on boat, but not underwater in PR waters

3 pers./day or a max. of 12/boat/day

No hookah gear allowed

Min. size of 9-in shell length from the spire to the distal end, or 3/8 inch lip thickness

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Federal vs. Territorial ManagementWhat is not compatible? 

Federal USVI (St. Croix)

Commercial Trip Limits

150 conchs per licensed fisherman per day 200 conchs per boat per day

RecreationalBag Limits

3 conchs per person per dayMax.12 conch per boat per day

6 conch per person per dayMax. 24 conch per boat per day

Other management measures not compatible

Hookah gear Banned in federal waters Not prohibited, but proposed to be banned.

Landed meat weight --

No possession of conch meats smaller than two uncleaned conch per pound or three cleaned conch per pound.

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Option 1: Modify the trip limit for the commercial harvest of queen conch in the

U.S. Caribbean EEZ

Alternative 1 No Action. No change to current commercial trip limit. No more than 150 queen conchs per licensed fisherman per day.

Alternative 2Commercial trip limit compatible with the USVI.

No more than 200 queen conchs per boat per day.

Alternative 3

No more than 150 queen conch per day if there is one licensed commercial fisherman on board, or no more than 200 queen conch per boat per day if more than one licensed commercial fisherman is on board.

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Option 2: Modify the bag limit for the recreational harvest of queen conch in the

U.S. Caribbean EEZ

Alternative 1No Action. No change to current recreational bag limits:

3 conchs per person per day, no more than 12 conchs per boat per day

Alternative 2Recreational bag limit compatible with the USVI:

6 conchs per person per day, no more than 24 conchs per boat

Conch Meat weight requirements - USVI

“No possession of conch meats smaller than two uncleaned conch per pound or three cleaned conch per pound”

Federal, USVI, and Puerto Rico regulations:Minimum shell length size of 9 inches from the spire to the distal end of shell or 3/8 inch lip thickness.

• Requiring conch to be landed in the shell protects immature queen conch, and reduces the number that can be housed aboard a fishing vessel.

• Although the USVI has the requirement of landing the conch in shell; it is not clear how this measure is currently enforced.

Issues: Landing sites for shellsSafety at sea

• Check condition of mature external reproductive parts (seen in mature individuals before cleaning)

Male

Pictures: D. Arana

Female

The meat-size ratio requires that conch be removed from the shell and can not be returned unharmed to the water if it is undersized.

In addition to shell length: 9” TL or 3/8” LT and 2 unclean, 3 clean to the pound – to be verified on arrival at dock or at sea.

Puerto RicoRecreational Sector Exceeding state bag limits – 3conchs p/p, max 12 p/boat Harvesting illegal sizes Selling conch

Other Issues

International / Other Issues ESA Listing Petition – Fishermen need update CITES – Fishermen want import of conch to be

prohibited during seasonal closure Illegal aliens harvesting conch

Motion to ask staff to complete the regulatory amendment 2 to the queen conch FMP and schedule for a public hearing and final action at our march meeting.

R. Crabtree, W. Ledee. Unanimously approved.

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Option 1: Modify the trip limit for the commercial harvest of queen conch in the

U.S. Caribbean EEZ

• The ACL for queen conch in the U.S. Caribbean EEZ is 50,000 lbs., which is compatible with the St. Croix territorial quota of 50,000 lbs. Accountability measures will close the fishery when the ACL / territorial quota is reached.

• Modifying the allowed trip limit would affect the rate at which the ACL is harvested.

• This option would not have any overall effect on the total amount of harvest that is currently allowed in the EEZ.

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St. Thomas/St. John St. Croix U.S. Virgin Islands

# of Fishermen

% of Fishermen

# of Fishermen

% of Fishermen

# of Fishermen

% of Fisherm

enFish Alone 12 16.2% 16 13% 28 14.2%Fish with helpers 65 87.8% 105 85.4% 170 86.3%Fish with other commercial fishermen 18 24.3% 45 36.6% 63 32%

# Responses 74 123 197

Although usually one license holder and his helpers will go out on a boat, it is not rare for a vessel to have multiple license holders onboard, two being the most common number.

Percentage of fishermen that fished alone and with others in 2010-2011 (Source: Kojis and Quinn 2011)

Option 1: Commercial Trip Limits

Alternative 1NO ACTIONNo change to

current commercial trip

limit

• No cap = possibility of too much harvest if more than one licensed person is on board.

• Enforcement issues would continue (e.g., if > 1 lic. holder on board, total number of conch that can then be harvested, transit through territorial waters with conch harvested in the EEZ).

• Continuing fishing in the EEZ at that effort could potentially cause the queen conch fishing season to be shortened.

Alternative 2Commercial

trip limit compatible

with the USVI

• Compatibility = efficiency in enforcement• If only one licensed person on board, the licensed person would be able to

harvest 200 conchs instead of 150, a higher limit than what is currently allowed in federal waters. However, this higher harvest would only affect the rate at which the ACL is achieved.

Alternative 3• If only one licensed fisher, harvest limit of 150 conchs, with no potential effect

on the rate at which the ACL is achieved. • May have enforcement issues when only one licensed person is on board.

Option 2: Recreational Bag Limit

Alternative 1No Action

• No change to current recreational bag limit• Not compatible with USVI. Would continue enforcement issues.

Alternative 2Recreational

Bag Limitcompatible

with the USVI

1) Little recreational fishing for queen conch in the EEZ.

• In territorial waters, no data of number of recreational pounds of conch harvested, recreational harvest may be more than the current USVI bag limits.

2) Fishery is closed down based on the catch that occurs in the commercial sector. Fishing for all sectors is closed (federal and state) when quota is reached.

• Increasing the bag limits could create or enhance a race for fish that would not be reflected in the landings, and therefore not be addressed by the STX ACL.

3) Queen conch is classified as an overfished species. Although only commercial harvest is monitored, the 50,000 lbs ACL in the EEZ serves as a proxy for the harvest that is occurring in both sectors of the fishery.

• The ACL is assumed to be sufficient at the moment to prevent overfishing from occurring; increasing the bag limit could potentially change the balance that was used to establish the 50,000 lbs ACL for the STX sector.

• Analyses of this alternative should prove that doubling the amount of recreational harvest would not result in overfishing and that the current ACL would still be a reasonable proxy for an ACL.

Conch Meat weight requirements - USVI• Considered (and rejected) in the Queen Conch FMP (1996) as a replacement

measure to overall shell length.

• Weight of conch is highly variable.

• Queen conch may exhibit small size shells among fully mature individuals in some places and large shelled but still immature conchs in other areas

• Best relationship found between lip thickness and sexual maturity.

Conch stops growing in shell length when they mature. After this, growth is only expressed in shell thickness.

Immature (left) and mature (right) conch from two neighboring fishing grounds in The Bahamas (Source: Ehrnhardt and Valle-Esquivel for CFMC, 2008).