Turks and Caicos Islands

(asked on 4th November 2014) - View Source

Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what scientific advice she has received on the sustainability of the export quota for the Queen conch species in the Turks and Caicos Islands.


Answered by
George Eustice Portrait
George Eustice
This question was answered on 11th November 2014

As responsibility for environmental issues in the UK’s Overseas Territories is devolved to Territory governments, it is not for the UK Government to set the Queen conch export quota for the Turks and Caicos Islands (TCI). Defra’s scientific advisors have therefore not carried out an assessment of the sustainability of TCI’s Queen conch quota. They have, however, advised that for issues relating to the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES), TCI’s Management Authority should follow the advice of TCI’s Scientific Authority when deciding whether to allow conch exports.

The UK’s ratification of CITES has not been extended to the TCI. The TCI trade in specimens of CITES-listed species such as Queen conch as a non-Party to the Convention and issue CITES-comparable documentation to facilitate this.

We secured sponsorship for a TCI delegate to attend a regional queen conch workshop in Panama later this month. The meeting will discuss the conservation, responsible management and sustainable trade in queen conch in the Caribbean. The TCI delegate will report on workshop findings and recommendations on his return and it is hoped that this will better inform TCI’s conch management.

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