Hotels, restaurants and other businesses must now submit monthly reports on sales of conch to enable the Department of Environment and Coastal Resources to determine how much conch
is taken each year from the nation’s fishery.
The Turks and Caicos Islands are a major exporter of queen conch or Strom-bus gigas to the United States. The Convention of International Trade of Endangered Species (CITES) monitors the
TCI for sustainable use of conch.
The TCI has, since the 1990s, managed the queen conch fishery using catch quota or total allowable catch. However, that only measures the amount of conch that is exported, not the amount that
is consumed locally. Without information on domestic consumption, an accurate assessment of the fishery isn’t possible.
The Department of Environment and Coastal resources – the DECR – says if this strategy is to continue, then domestic consumption will be depleted for export purposes. In announcing the new
requirement, the DECR gave the assurance that domestic consumption continues without restrictions. However, it says that requires information be obtained from the domestic sector.
Since 2004, the DECR has made attempts to gather domestic information on domestic marine products, however data collection strategy has been met with some level of resistance. Recent recommendations by DECR and various stakeholders were granted by His Excellency the Gov. Ric Todd in November and took effect Dec. 1.
According to Section 3 of the Fisheries Protection Ordinance 23 (3) “The owner or operator of every hotel, restaurant, shop or similar commercial establishment who purchases or sells marine
product, shall upon a request made to him by a Fisheries Officer in writing, submit to the Fisheries Officer an accurate statement as to the quantity of weight of marine product, frozen or otherwise,
in his possession at the date of the statement within 24 hours of the request.” 23 (4) “The owner or operator of a hotel, restaurant, shop or similar commercial establishment who fails to submit to the Fisheries officer an accurate statement in accordance with paragraph (3) shall
be guilty of an offence.”
DECR is requesting that monthly statistical forms be completed by each restaurant, hotel, shop and similar commercial establishment and submitted by the first of each month for the previous month. The DECR is also asking respective persons in the TCI to be proactive in and assist the DECR with ensuring a domestic marine product for retail in your establishment.
