- Joined
- Mar 11, 2001
- Messages
- 70,011
- Reaction score
- 1,003
State plan for abalone continues restrictions on harvesting
By Colleen Valles, ASSOCIATED PRESS
January 27, 2003
A state plan to restore abalone populations – some of which are nearing extinction along parts of the California coast – would continue harvesting restrictions and expand the number of marine protected areas that provide a refuge for the mollusk. (AP Photo)
SAN FRANCISCO – A state plan to restore abalone populations – some of which are nearing extinction along parts of the California coast – would continue harvesting restrictions and expand the number of marine protected areas that provide a refuge for the mollusks.
The state Department of Fish and Game sent the draft plan to department commissioners this month for public comment and final approval. It's the first plan to manage the state's abalone fishery and to restore depleted stocks along the coast.
Long lived and slow growing, California abalone populations continue to face significant danger from disease and poaching – as well as natural predators and legal harvesting.
In the last century, their numbers have decreased so much that only red abalone – one of California's seven species of the mollusk – has a large enough population to be harvested, though only by sport divers without scuba gear. Most are harvested in Mendocino and Sonoma counties.
The plan would assess the state of the abalone population and develop recovery techniques.
It suggests the use of protected areas to provide a natural habitat and refuge for the animals, as well as breeding young abalone and placing adult abalone close together so they can reproduce. It also suggests establishing a total allowable catch of 400,000 red abalone per year, and letting regulators close certain sites to harvesting if stock is too depleted.
The number of abalone divers can take was lowered for the 2002 season from four per day and 100 annually to no more than three a day and 24 a year. And they're only allowed to take abalone that measure 7 inches or larger – it can take a red abalone 14 years to get that big.
To protect the species, state regulators had considered shortening the season, which stretches from April 1 to the end of June and from August 1 to the end of November.
The problem is that "for Northern California, abalone season is a very big part of the tourist economy," said Ian Taniguchi, an associate marine biologist at the Fish and Game department. "That's part of why we left the season the way it was and reduced the bag limit."
High demand has made poaching a serious threat to abalone populations. Black market abalone can fetch up to $80 apiece, or $200 if smuggled to Japan, where they're eaten as a delicacy or used as an aphrodisiac.
"We really do not know how much poaching is going on. We'll never know the full extent," Taniguchi said. "Based on the cases we've made, abalone poaching is considered a high priority for our enforcement branch."
Law enforcement officers have set up elaborate sting operations to catch poachers, who can be fined up to $40,000 and be sentenced to three years in prison. Even divers who fail to fill out the proper paperwork on their catch can face $200 fines.
A moratorium was put on commercial harvesting in California in 1997, and most abalone found in restaurants is supposed to come from farms.
While law enforcement can check whether restaurants got their abalone from a grower or from a poacher, "there isn't any way for consumers to know," said Diana Watters, also a Fish and Game associate marine biologist.
Abalone grow in temperate water around the world. In California, they're found mostly in the coastal waters among rocks and around kelp forests.
There's no estimated population number, but white abalone are on the endangered species list and black abalone is a candidate for the list. Its numbers in Southern California have been decimated by a disease called withering syndrome, and the bacteria that causes it affects other abalone species as well.
Pink and green abalone were once common in Southern California, but now are rare, and flat and pinto abalone have always been uncommon.
By Colleen Valles, ASSOCIATED PRESS
January 27, 2003
A state plan to restore abalone populations – some of which are nearing extinction along parts of the California coast – would continue harvesting restrictions and expand the number of marine protected areas that provide a refuge for the mollusk. (AP Photo)
SAN FRANCISCO – A state plan to restore abalone populations – some of which are nearing extinction along parts of the California coast – would continue harvesting restrictions and expand the number of marine protected areas that provide a refuge for the mollusks.
The state Department of Fish and Game sent the draft plan to department commissioners this month for public comment and final approval. It's the first plan to manage the state's abalone fishery and to restore depleted stocks along the coast.
Long lived and slow growing, California abalone populations continue to face significant danger from disease and poaching – as well as natural predators and legal harvesting.
In the last century, their numbers have decreased so much that only red abalone – one of California's seven species of the mollusk – has a large enough population to be harvested, though only by sport divers without scuba gear. Most are harvested in Mendocino and Sonoma counties.
The plan would assess the state of the abalone population and develop recovery techniques.
It suggests the use of protected areas to provide a natural habitat and refuge for the animals, as well as breeding young abalone and placing adult abalone close together so they can reproduce. It also suggests establishing a total allowable catch of 400,000 red abalone per year, and letting regulators close certain sites to harvesting if stock is too depleted.
The number of abalone divers can take was lowered for the 2002 season from four per day and 100 annually to no more than three a day and 24 a year. And they're only allowed to take abalone that measure 7 inches or larger – it can take a red abalone 14 years to get that big.
To protect the species, state regulators had considered shortening the season, which stretches from April 1 to the end of June and from August 1 to the end of November.
The problem is that "for Northern California, abalone season is a very big part of the tourist economy," said Ian Taniguchi, an associate marine biologist at the Fish and Game department. "That's part of why we left the season the way it was and reduced the bag limit."
High demand has made poaching a serious threat to abalone populations. Black market abalone can fetch up to $80 apiece, or $200 if smuggled to Japan, where they're eaten as a delicacy or used as an aphrodisiac.
"We really do not know how much poaching is going on. We'll never know the full extent," Taniguchi said. "Based on the cases we've made, abalone poaching is considered a high priority for our enforcement branch."
Law enforcement officers have set up elaborate sting operations to catch poachers, who can be fined up to $40,000 and be sentenced to three years in prison. Even divers who fail to fill out the proper paperwork on their catch can face $200 fines.
A moratorium was put on commercial harvesting in California in 1997, and most abalone found in restaurants is supposed to come from farms.
While law enforcement can check whether restaurants got their abalone from a grower or from a poacher, "there isn't any way for consumers to know," said Diana Watters, also a Fish and Game associate marine biologist.
Abalone grow in temperate water around the world. In California, they're found mostly in the coastal waters among rocks and around kelp forests.
There's no estimated population number, but white abalone are on the endangered species list and black abalone is a candidate for the list. Its numbers in Southern California have been decimated by a disease called withering syndrome, and the bacteria that causes it affects other abalone species as well.
Pink and green abalone were once common in Southern California, but now are rare, and flat and pinto abalone have always been uncommon.
