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Conch grow-out farms offer long term local employment opportunities and create an industry that provides conch for local consumption and for export, decreasing the stress placed on wild conch populations to sustain current and future demand. The commercial scale of the conch mariculture facility enables meaningful research into reseeding and restocking conch populations to occur throughout the Caribbean, helping to ensure that conch remains a sustainably managed resource into the future.
Historically conch has been a major source of protein for inhabitants of the Caribbean. Of all the seafood within the region conch provides the highest protein yield per unit. As an herbivore conch provides the highest food energy output for the least energy input, this coupled with its accessibility to all known predators makes it one of the most important sources of primary production transfer in the environment. Conch grow out facilities will help conch populations to once again become a widespread and inexpensive source of protein for the Caribbean and beyond.
Conch farming provides local workers with a safe year-round employment opportunity, as opposed to other near shore employment opportunities, such as fishing, which are both seasonal and hazardous. The nature of the employment allows for personal advancement through work in the skilled trades as well as the development of organizational and communication skills. A conch mariculture facility producing 2 million conch/year can sustain over 30 employees ranging from production staff with less than a high school education to managerial positions. On-site research projects allow the local community to interface with the outside scientific community, providing contacts for future learning and employment opportunities for locals.
In a larger context, conch grow-out and restoration farms have a role in the worldwide increase in aquaculture, fueled by over-fishing and the publics increasing preference of seafood over meat as a source of protein. The promise of aquaculture is that it could produce most of the world's marine produce while helping to alleviate poverty and food shortages in some of the Caribbean's poorest countries.
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