Assessment of Abalone Stocks in Southern California: The First Stage of Recovery.

Abstract

Seven species of abalones are found along the west coast of North America from Mexico to Alaska. Six of these species once supported valuable cultural, commercial, and recreational fisheries, but prohibitions of take of all but one species has been prohibited, a result of over fishing, disease, habitat loss, and recovery of natural predators. Nevertheless, there is a strong desire to re-establish fisheries on some of these abalones, particularly in southern California where fisheries on five species once occurred. The State of California recently completed the Abalone Recovery and Management Plan (ARMP) to guide efforts for recovery and eventual management of abalones. Recovery of abalone populations in an area the size of California will require an ambitious effort. The ARMP is designed to regularly evaluate recovery so that decisions about future use can be made expeditiously, but not prematurely. The plan requires that a significant number of areas be recovered before any consideration of a fishery, recognizing the relationships between local populations. The early assessment involves determining population structure at many index sites, a task that strains the available resources of the State. State biologists have partnered with AAUS scientists from the Aquarium of the Pacific to assess abalone populations in southern California. From the very beginning of this partnership useful information has been gathered which has provided a optimistic view about the recovery of abalones.