[Coral-List] conch tagging

[julian]

Dear Maarten,

You could glue a tag to the shell using cyanoacrylate gel. This would be
less work and would not harm the animal.

What about rearing large number of young conch in upland aquaculture and
releasing them in the bay? The fishery could be enhanced this way. I believe
Queen conch are reared by Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institute, and other
organizations. They would probably also have a figure on how long it takes
for them to reach market size.

Julian

> From: "bmp" <marinepark at bmp.org>
> Date: Mon, 17 Nov 2003 17:27:29 -0400
> To: <coral-list at coral.aoml.noaa.gov>
> Subject: [Coral-List] conch tagging
> 
> Dear all,
> 
> My name is Maarten Schuit, I am manager of the Bonaire National Marine Park on
> Bonaire (N.A.). Currently, I am in the process of setting up a small scale
> project to determine growth rate and population size of the queen conch that
> occurs in a lagoon on the East coast of Bonaire, called Lac Bay. Lac Bay is a
> sandy lagoon and contains seagrass beds and is surrounded by mangroves for the
> greater part. It is believed to be an important nursery ground for all kinds
> of marine vertebrates and invertebrates.
> 
> However, due to illegal overfishing, the population of conch in Lac Bay is on
> the brink of collapse. Fishermen are of the opinion that this is not the case.
> However, the big mountains of conch shell (big old shells on the bottom, small
> fresh ones on the top) say it all (next to scientific surveys that have been
> conducted [Lott, 2001]). Also, the fishermen believe a conch can grow from 10
> cm into adult conch in a couple of weeks, or at most in a couple months.
> However, I need to work with them, to be able successfully enforce the laws
> concerning conch fishery, and more important, to be able to reverse the
> process of decreasing population sizes.
> 
> The good part is, that the fishermen are willing to cooperate in a project
> involving growth rate and population size. I want, in cooperation with them,
> conduct a capture, mark and recapture-project. To mark them, I want to drill a
> little hole in the lip of the shell and place a tag. I do not want this tag to
> be to big or to influence it's survival chances (or as little as possible). I
> wondered if anyone has any suggestions to what kind of tag I should use, and
> where I could purchase these?
> 
> Thanks on beforehand.
> 
> Maarten
> 
> 
> Oh, and if our fishermen are right, and the conch on Bonaire do grow into
> adults in a couple of months, I am going to change my job and'll be sending
> out advertisements via this list for the sell of 'Bonaire's own special
> conch'! ;^)
> 
> ************************************************
> Maarten Schuit
> Manager Bonaire National Marine Park
> PO Box 368
> Bonaire
> Netherlands Antilles
> Tel:  599 7178444
> Fax: 599  7177318
> 
> Email: marinepark at bmp.org
> Homepage: www.bmp.org
> *************************************************
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