Queen conch populations have been rapidly declining throughout the years and have been mostly depleted in some areas in the Caribbean due to the fact that they are highly sought after for their meat and their value. Within the conch fisheries, one of the threats to sustainability stems from the fact that there is almost as much meat in large juveniles as there is in adults, but only adult conchs can reproduce, and thus sustain a population. In many places where adult conchs have become rare due to overfishing, larger juveniles and subadults are taken before they ever mate.