Our Story: The Queen Conch Lab

The John and Barbara Ferrara Ocean Science Lecture Series

*** To watch the lecture livestream remotely, visit www.fau.edu/hboi/osls and click the "Watch Live" button. ***

For 50 years, of which 30 have been at Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institute, Dr. Megan Davis has studied the queen conch life cycle and innovated ways to save the species. She is the world’s foremost expert on queen conch aquaculture and has designed, implemented, and operated community-based queen conch hatcheries throughout the Caribbean. As Director of Florida Atlantic University’s Queen Conch Lab program, Megan and her team work with fisherfolk and citizens in their communities to empower them to grow their own conch for restoration and conservation.

Megan and her team will share “Our Story: The Queen Conch Lab.” This multimedia presentation will provide a deeper understanding of why the Queen Conch Lab is on a mission to save the queen of the sea for the benefit of the species, seagrass ecosystems, and people.

Their vision is to establish a conch farm in every Caribbean nation to support region-wide restoration and conservation. They currently have partnership, community-based Mobile Lab and/or stationary hatcheries in Puerto Rico, three locations in The Bahamas, Jamaica, and Curaçao, with additional labs for Turks and Caicos and St. Vincent and the Grenadines under discussion.

The life stages of the queen conch will be described, and their growing community network—bringing together fishers, students, scientists, and residents across the Caribbean—will be highlighted. A short film about the conch and its environment will be premiered, and the presentation will conclude with conch shell music performed by a special guest.