Commercial Spear Fisherman

Commercial fisherman Andres Maldonado shows off a juvenile queen conch (Lobatus gigas) off Cabo Rojo, Puerto Rico. The conch was too small to keep so he set it back on the seabed after the image was made. Andres noticed drastic and obvious declines in fish numbers and habitat availbale after Hurricane Maria in 2017 which put many other commercial fisherman out of business. Queen conch, once his main catch, were completely wiped out at depths under 70 feet. In 2020, three years after the storms, he is starting to find the odd juvenile, but he must rely on other species to make a living. Image release available.

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Filename: Gross_PuertoRico077.jpg
Copyright: ©Shane Gross/iLCP
Image Size: 5568x3712 / 16.5MB; https://www.photoshelter.com/support/license; https://www.shanegross.com/contact; conch queen conch Lobatus gigas underwater fishing fisherman
Contained in galleries: Stock Collection

Commercial fisherman Andres Maldonado shows off a juvenile queen conch (Lobatus gigas) off Cabo Rojo, Puerto Rico. The conch was too small to keep so he set it back on the seabed after the image was made. Andres noticed drastic and obvious declines in fish numbers and habitat availbale after Hurricane Maria in 2017 which put many other commercial fisherman out of business. Queen conch, once his main catch, were completely wiped out at depths under 70 feet. In 2020, three years after the storms, he is starting to find the odd juvenile, but he must rely on other species to make a living. Image release available.