The Conch Farm is located on the isolated eastern end of the island, amid a flat and sunbaked terrain of scrub and sand. This is the only place in the world where conch is commercially produced. Although it was first built as a research facility, the farm not only exports much of the conch you eat in the Florida Keys and Miami, but its breeding techniques could help save the conch from extinction -- it's a real venture in eco-mariculture. Its stated mission is to "help provide jobs, stimulate economic growth, supply a low-cost source of protein, and protect wild conch stocks from exploitation." Conch has many natural predators -- man is at the top of the list -- and only a tiny percentage of hatched conch eggs survive in the wild, whereas 25% of the eggs survive here in this controlled environment. The Turks islanders staff gives visitors a short walking tour of the breeding basins -- included is a tour of the hatchery and the laboratories, where more than two million conch reside in ponds in various stages of growth. The tour is modest, but the passion for the cause is palpable. This is truly a hands-on enterprise: It is someone's job to hand-feed food pellets to most of the young conch daily. A gift shop sells rare conch pearls, shell jewelry, and T-shirts.
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