THE CONCHSERVATION campaign has brought the My Science! My Conch! project to Grand Bahama to help students learn about the Queen Conch.
The project gave people who don’t usually look at the conch in a scientific way a chance to be the scientist for a day.
It also gave the Bahamas National Trust (BNT) Conchservation team an opportunity to speak to conch fishermen in Grand Bahama about ensuring a future for the Bahamian queen conch fishery.
Students from St George’s High School, Eight Mile Rock High School, the College of the Bahamas, and community members from Mcleans Town learned the techniques scientists use to gather information about the Queen Conch, and then got to use those skills to conduct an actual survey at a conch shell pile, or what’s also known as a conch “midden”. Some of the data will be used to assist the Department of Marine Resources in their work to safeguard the Bahamian conch fishery.
This was the first run of My Science! My Conch! and over the three days, the team interacted with more than 50 students and taught them how regular people can identify whether or not a conch is mature.
Jared Dillet, Marine Resource Campaign co-ordinator, said: “We were very pleased with the first run of My Science! My Conch! Not only did we train quite a number of students to properly identify mature conch, but equally important is that we were able to make contact with people in Grand Bahama who will be very helpful to the Conchservation Campaign and the My Science! My Conch! project in future activities.”
In West End, especially, the Conchservation campaign was able to gather data, learn conch history, and get valuable information that will help the campaign in the future.
Wellington Ingraham, a fisherman from Eight Mile Rock, said: “We wouldn’t be the Bahamas without conch, we’d be just another destination. I think we need a lot of help in that area to preserve our natural resources. If we don’t have the conch I think we’d have a serious problem.”
By supporting projects like My Science! My Conch!, the Conchservation campaign hopes to educate the public on how to identify mature conch so that we can preserve them for future generations.
Mr Dillet said: “As conch catchers, buyers and eaters, we must remember it’s not always the size of the conch that matters, but the thickness of the lip that is important to know about. If the lip is thick, it’s fine to harvest, but if the lip is thin and can easily be broken, you should leave the conch so it has a chance to reproduce.”
My Science! My Conch! – a partnership between BNT’s Conchservation, BREEF, and Community Conch – plans to travel throughout the Bahamas to engage the public in the collection of valuable conch fishery data and talk to the resource users themselves about the conch fishery.
The My Science! My Conch! project is supported by partner organisations, and through contributions from donors who value the importance of education in creating a sustainable conch fishery.
Facilitators say more support is needed to ensure that the programme reaches as many communities as possible across the Bahamas, especially those that depend on healthy conch populations to continue their way of life.
Interested persons were urged to visit www.communityconch.org to inquire about how they can help with or donate to the project.
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