Tag Archives: knobbed whelk

Catching and selling conchs a way of life for Shawn Moore

Channel whelks are the smooth and more valuable variety. A Chinese buyer in New York City pays $5 a pound for the smooths. The weight includes the shell. The buyer travels to Moore’s Gravel Hill home to buy that day’s conchs and then returns to the city to sell them live the next day to Asian markets in Chinatown where they fetch $10 a pound. The knobbed whelks bring $1 a pound. The harvesting process is nothing short of slick: a well-oiled and productive system that requires a shipshape deck, steady focus by captain and crew, quick but without hurry. Once the fishing begins, there’s little break in the action.,, His crew on this day is 24-year-old Zandar Planches, who picked up the system quickly, knows what has to be done, and does it. Video, >photos, click to read<  08:32