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Trade Wind Industries, Ltd was incorporated in 1984 with a vision of pioneering a pan-Caribbean conch mariculture industry that would benefit the region by providing jobs, stimulating economic growth, supplying a low-cost source of protein, and protecting wild conch stocks from exploitation.
The queen conch, scientifically Strombus gigas, has been a staple of the Caribbean for at least a thousand years. Its meat provides a major source of protein for the region, while its shell has been used for tools, weapons, jewelry, ceremonial objects, and as a construction material. Over-fishing has depleted wild stocks of conch; today it is now listed on the CITES Appendix II, as a commercially endangered species. Despite Caribbean-wide country quotas on harvesting wild conch, the remaining conch population continues to decline rapidly as over-fishing continues. Conch harvests are a major source of food and income for many local people, and without a source of replacement income they continue to harvest conch. Twenty years ago sixteen Caribbean/Latin American countries exported conch to the world market place; today only three still have commercial quantities of wild conch to offer to the market place.
In 1984, Chuck Hesse, TWI's founder and CEO, realized the potential to simultaneously help the environment, employ local fishermen, and generate profitable returns by farming conch.
TWI's goals are to expand conch production at its farm in the Turks & Caicos and to license grow-out farms throughout the Caribbean. Achieving these goals will increase supply and reduce production and shipping costs. Once adequate supply is established, TWI will expand its marketing into Asia, where conch is in high demand, both for its nutritional benefits and acknowledged cultural and aphrodisiac properties.
While achieving its goals, TWI will continue research to lower the cost to produce farmed conch below that of harvesting it from the wild. History has shown that once farmed product is in the marketplace at prices lower than that of wild conch, the wild stocks will be able to recover.
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