As many as 1 million Conch shells illegally killed for meat.

13/08/2006 00:00:00 September 2007. After a long investigation, law enforcement authorities have confiscated an astonishing 120 tonnes of conch meant 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. Between November and December 2006, over 27 metric tonnes of falsely declared queen conch meat were detained by Environment Canada wildlife officers: in Montréal, 9,886 kilograms (21,750 lbs.), and Halifax, 17,672 kilograms (38,880 lbs.) – the largest ever confiscations of smuggled endangered species in this country. As well, 955 kilograms (2,100 lbs.) were seized by U.S. officials in Buffalo, NY in March 2006.

Conch meat from Haiti, Jamaica, Honduras, Colombia and the Dominican republic
According to documents filed in Canadian and American courts in September 2007, it is alleged that between 2004 and 2006, 119,978 kilograms of protected queen conch meat from the Dominican Republic, Haiti, Jamaica, Honduras and Colombia was shipped to Canada using false descriptions to avoid detection by officials. Once in Canada, the meat was either sold on the local market or re-packaged - sometimes as ‘whelk meat’, a non-endangered cold water species - from where it was shipped to the United States. Charges have been laid in Canada and the U.S. against persons and companies located in Florida, British Columbia and Nova Scotia. The investigation is continuing. Over 1,000,000 Conch killed
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. DNA testing was used to positively identify the detained shipments from 2006 as being queen conch.

Queen conch, also known as pink conch, is protected under the Convention on International Trade of Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES). Operation Shell Game, an 18-month long investigation, involved federal wildlife officers in Ontario, Quebec, British Columbia, Nova Scotia, and Florida. Canadian and U.S. border officials also contributed to the investigation.