Nina Cucina At The World’s Only Conch Farm, Provo, TCI

One of the wonderful things that Roger & I were able to learn about in our recent trip to the Turks & Caicos was about the Conch Farm in Provo.

Conch is a staple in Caribbean cooking & there is fear that the conch is being fished out. In fact, the conch is considered a commercially endangered species. So in 1984, Trade Wind Industries was incorporated with the vision of growing and supplying the world with delicious conch without the exploitation of  the depleting wild conch population. So let’s  take a photographic tour through the Conch Farm in Provo – it is the only one of it’s kind in the world!

Welcome To The Conch Farm In Provo, TCI

For a long while, there were no tours of this great facility because they had been essentially wiped out by hurricanes Hanna & Ike. They are now (still) rebuilding the conch population to what it was before the storms.

Conch Farm Entrance

This is one of two small buildings that are not utilized for the actual growing of the conch — this adorable little building is where you sign in & it doubles as the gift shop.

The Hatchery At Conch Farm, Provo

This sign gives you an idea of how the life cycle starts for the conch here. The Queen Conch, which is the species that is grown here and eaten throughout the Caribbean, is a sea snail, the scientific name being Strombus Gigas. The Queen Conch feeds on algae. One of the aspects that I really admire about this place is that they grow algae for the conch to feed on so that they can provide the conch with their natural diet which also maitains it’s nutritional value for those that eat the conch. One doesn’t find that in A LOT of farming. We, in America, for the most part DO NOT feed our farmed animals their natural diet…. it’s outrageous, really….. Here is one of the algae tanks…..

Growing Algae To Feed The Conch

The Queen Conch grows it’s own shell and the shell grows with it, unlike a hermit crab, for example, that leaves it shell to find a bigger & better home as it grows. After the larvae go through their metamorphosis, as the sign explains, the baby conch, goes to these tanks below to begin real growth.

The Baby Conch Begin To Grow

All of these shallow water tanks have baby conch in them, feeding off of algae at the bottom of the tank just as they would in the wild. Take a peak….

A Baby Conch - Just A Few Months Old

The growing of conch is a long process…. to bring one conch to harvest is a 4-year growth cycle. This is just step 2….. From here, the conch go out to the sea in these fenced off areas….

The Conch's Life Here In The Sea

When the hurricanes came through, this area was totally destroyed and they lost almost their entire harvest. Just to give you an idea of the largess of such a loss, this farm exports 1.4 million pounds of conch annually. You read that correctly, MILLION….mostly to Florida, from there it gets distributed to other places in the U.S.

Growth Cycle Of Conch By Shell Size

The photo above will give you an idea of how the conch grows….The upper right hand tiny shell would be living in the shallow tanks until reaching the size of the shells center-bottom of the photo. The shell at the top is that of a 4-year old conch, ready for harvest.

Life Cycle Of Conch

This sign also gives you an idea of the long process to grow this delicacy….

The Conch Farm also has a couple of baby sea turtles that tourists can handle and feed  – they are SO cute!

Baby Turtle At The Conch Farm

Finally, I’d like to show you one of the Conch Farm’s pet conch, Jerry. There are two – Sally is the other. Sally is 7, Jerry only 4. They are handled regularly, so they are not shy. Look at Jerry coming out of his shell to say ‘hi’.

Smile For The Camera, Jerry.

We had a very informative day at the Conch Farm. This place typically grows about 3 million conch per year – it’s amazing….

So let’s talk about the nutritional value of my favorite conch dish, conch salad. Conch salad has about 307 calories per serving, is very high in B & C vitamins and very low in fat. It’s a delicious & nutritious way to enjoy a true Caribbean delicacy!

The adventure of life has now taken Roger & I back to the good ‘ole U.S.A. – stay tuned for what happens next in our travels!