Conch Season to Close This Sunday

If you have conch in your freezer, it’s advised that you make that pot of conch soup or ceviche that you’ve wanted because come Sunday, the season for conch will close and anyone with conch in their possession after that day will be in violation of the law that governs that closure. Today, Acting Fisheries Administrator with the Belize Fisheries Department Rigoberto Quintana shared with News Five that this year the season was extended for a week before the official close on June fifteenth. Now that the national quota has been realized, it means the season will be closed, at least until October first when it reopens. And there are some steep penalties if you’re caught with conch in your possession during the closed season, and Quintana says that having a receipt showing proof of purchase before the closure will not do much to help you.

Rigoberto Quintana

Rigoberto Quintana, Ag. Fisheries Administrator, Belize Fisheries Department

“Any seafood commodity that is caught illegally or during closed season, we have a penalty ranging from to a hundred dollars per piece. Before it was between twenty to thirty dollars and for protected species, the penalty is a thousand dollars per piece.”

Marion Ali

“So if you happen to purchase the conch before the closure of the season, you’d have to prove that, right?”

Rigoberto Quintana

“At the closure, nobody’s supposed to have it none at all. So, if you saw our press release, we advised the public, we advised restaurants to consume those products before or on the twenty-sixth of June.”