The department has recommended that the governor declare an open season on trochus for the reefs if it could find a suitable buyer or buyers for trochus shells and meat.
The report also stated that the sustainable harvest quota would be a total live weight of 220 tons of trochus, which are sea snails used in the manufacture of mother of pearl buttons, mother of pearl beads and pendants.
The department is recommending that the harvestable trochus will be restricted to those having a base diameter at the widest point of 3 to 4 inches.
