1 million conch shells illegally killed for meat

From Wildlife Extra:

As many as 1 million Conch shells illegally killed for meat

September 2007. After a long investigation, law enforcement authorities have confiscated an astonishing 120 tonnes of conch meat that was being smuggled into the USA via Canada.

The smuggling operation is believed to have been responsible for illegally importing and/or exporting 119,978 kilograms (263,953 lbs, the equivalent of nearly seven fully loaded semi trailers) of queen conch (Strombus gigas) meat from several Caribbean and South American countries to Canada and the United States.

Environment Canada’s Wildlife Enforcement Division working with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration fisheries officers have dismantled a major smuggling organization of queen conch meat, an internationally protected endangered species. …

Based on average weight per specimen, the meat of between 798,000 and 1.05 million individual conchs were illegally imported into and/or exported from Canada.

Florida Fighting Conch: here.