CHN GENERAL MEETING (OCTOBER 2002)

On October 28-29, 2002, the Conch Heritage Network held an Executive Board meeting in Key West, and General Meeting at the Florida Marine Research Institute in Marathon, FL.

On the way to the meetings, Megan, Amber, Jerry, and Ashley from Harbor Branch had the opportunity to observe the Islamorada Fish Company's conch display tanks. These tanks were established by Harbor Branch in August 2001.

Then they stopped by the marine biology department at the brand new Coral Shores High School. Mr. Dave Makepeace and his students are planning to build a conch grow-out facility for queen conch.

The next meeting point was at the Mote Summerland Key laboratory. Pete Braisted and Kevan Main (Mote) gave a tour of the facilities, which began with their conch grow-out tanks. Mote Summerland Key currently have juvenile and adult queen conch, and are taking water quality and growth rate measurements.

The last stop of the day was at the Mote Key West conch laboratory. Anne Myers was able to show the Harbor Branch crew, Bob Glazer, Gabe Delgado, Bob Parkinson, Dave Jenkins, Ken Leber, and Kevan Main the new conch laboratory. There is a lovely mural painted on the wall, and all six conch tanks were up and running. This laboratory will be open for public tours as well.

On the second day, the Executive Board held a general open meeting at the FWC's Florida Marine Research Institute. Bob Glazer and Gabe Delgado (FWC) showed the participants the larval room and queen conch holding area. Once the meeting began, we were happy to see how many people were interested in the Conch Heritage Network and its' goals. There were representatives from The Keys Marine Conservancy, The Nature Conservancy, the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary, and private companies, as well as from Harbor Branch, Mote, and FWC. We would like to thank everyone for their enthusiasm and participation in the conservation of the queen conch.