Abalone Diving in Northern California - new regs this year (and a video to boot)

[Dans 68]

Guys,

I don't know how familiar you are with Abalone, but I have been diving for them every year going on 40 years. The limits have gradually been lowered, and restrictions have gradually gone up. Typical Government operation. This year we have to physically mark the abs with a sequentially numbered tag to help stop the poaching that accounts for a quarter million (so they say) taken illegally each year. Idiots....

I'll let the Fish and Game in on a secret...the sport divers are not the ones poaching.      Groups of professional poachers have been plying the waters for years, and I think that it will not be too much longer before sport divers face another closed fishery. Another penalize the citizen that follows the rules.  O.K., I feel better now.   

Go the this link http://www.dfg.ca.gov/education/video/AbaloneRegulations.html to see the new hoops. There are also brief video segments showing what the undersea world in northern California looks like, with abalone, no less!     And yes, they are the best seafood in all the world. Drop in and I'll cook some up for you!

Dan

[TK73]

Ahhh, baloney...

[bull]

Yup, it's pretty much that way with everything. Laws only effect law-abiding citizens.

[John_Kunkel]

So, illegal harvesting is putting the supply in danger, authorities are limited in their ability to catch all poachers and have to restrict legal harvesting.

Is the answer to allow both legal and illegal harvesting until the species is fished-out? Or restrict the harvesting that they can control?

I see it as an unpopular decision but one that must be made. Maybe sport divers should take an active part in identifying/bagging the bad guys.

[bordin34]

What are Abalone and why do you have to dive for them? Can they not be fished from the surface?

[Dans 68]

Maybe sport divers should take an active part in identifying/bagging the bad guys.

John, we do. When we see shady activities we come down hard on them. The bad guys employ all sort of tactics, from collecting the Abs with tanks (aka scuba diving...freediving is the only permitted diving one can do) to legally harvesting urchins but also taking Ab's, to doing their nefarious activies at night. Wardens are generally all over the coast so it is not hard to contact one if a suspected poacher is seen. I would gladly pay double or even triple what I pay now for my license if they would just get more law enforcement on the coast and end the poaching! 

What are Abalone and why do you have to dive for them? Can they not be fished from the surface?

Abalone are ocean going snails, for want of a better description. Look at the Dept of Fish and Game video (first thread link) and you can see them attached to the rocks, and the diver picking one. They eat kelp, so a baited hook would not do it. Oh, and they taste very good. Very good.   

[JimShine]

I use abalone, but the shell for inlay work.

[RECHRGD]

WOW! This topic brings back memories.  In 1969 I took a commercial diving course in Southern California.  I was supposed to have had a hard hat job on an oil rig lined up in the gulf of mexico at the conclusion of the school.  As timing would have it, all off shore drilling was shut down due to some spills that had just happened.  Being unemployed the owners of the school kindly offered myself and several other students to join them on a commercial abalone diving trip to the islands off of Santa Barbara.  We used Hooka gear and would dive anywhere between 50' to 150' and got tons of abalone.  We had about 5 or 6 approx. 30' long boats.  We dove every day for about a week with hammerheads and manta rays all around.  Anyway, when all the boats were filled to the max with abalone, we headed into Santa Barbara to sell the catch while they were still in good shape.  I was young and dumb and didn't think anything was amiss when we were told to go home and we would get a call letting us know when to come and pick up our share of the money. 
i didn't hear anything and after a few days called the guy up.  He was sorry to tell me that ALL the abalone were dead and they got nothing for the catch, BUT, if I wanted to borrow ten dollars I could.  That was the extent of my short diving career.  Come to think of it now, maybe I was poaching and didn't even know it.  It was a lesson learned at an appropriate time in my life that you can never blindly trust people.  And yes, abalone taste great, cut thin, beaten with a hammer and cooked with butter.     Bob

[Dans 68]

WOW! This topic brings back memories.  In 1969 I took a commercial diving course in Southern California.  I was supposed to have had a hard hat job on an oil rig lined up in the gulf of mexico at the conclusion of the school.  As timing would have it, all off shore drilling was shut down due to some spills that had just happened.  Being unemployed the owners of the school kindly offered myself and several other students to join them on a commercial abalone diving trip to the islands off of Santa Barbara.  We used Hooka gear and would dive anywhere between 50' to 150' and got tons of abalone.  We had about 5 or 6 approx. 30' long boats.  We dove every day for about a week with hammerheads and manta rays all around.  Anyway, when all the boats were filled to the max with abalone, we headed into Santa Barbara to sell the catch while they were still in good shape.  I was young and dumb and didn't think anything was amiss when we were told to go home and we would get a call letting us know when to come and pick up our share of the money. 
i didn't hear anything and after a few days called the guy up.  He was sorry to tell me that ALL the abalone were dead and they got nothing for the catch, BUT, if I wanted to borrow ten dollars I could.  That was the extent of my short diving career.  Come to think of it now, maybe I was poaching and didn't even know it.  It was a lesson learned at an appropriate time in my life that you can never blindly trust people.  And yes, abalone taste great, cut thin, beaten with a hammer and cooked with butter.     Bob

Good story. Are you saying that that the ab was collected for an entire week, and not kept in a recirculating holding tank? They can survive for hours out of water (think tides) but to ask them to hold their breath for a week is too much. Maybe it was poaching ( ) , and with not very smart poachers at that. 

Dan

[RECHRGD]

WOW! This topic brings back memories. In 1969 I took a commercial diving course in Southern California. I was supposed to have had a hard hat job on an oil rig lined up in the gulf of mexico at the conclusion of the school. As timing would have it, all off shore drilling was shut down due to some spills that had just happened. Being unemployed the owners of the school kindly offered myself and several other students to join them on a commercial abalone diving trip to the islands off of Santa Barbara. We used Hooka gear and would dive anywhere between 50' to 150' and got tons of abalone. We had about 5 or 6 approx. 30' long boats. We dove every day for about a week with hammerheads and manta rays all around. Anyway, when all the boats were filled to the max with abalone, we headed into Santa Barbara to sell the catch while they were still in good shape. I was young and dumb and didn't think anything was amiss when we were told to go home and we would get a call letting us know when to come and pick up our share of the money.
i didn't hear anything and after a few days called the guy up. He was sorry to tell me that ALL the abalone were dead and they got nothing for the catch, BUT, if I wanted to borrow ten dollars I could. That was the extent of my short diving career. Come to think of it now, maybe I was poaching and didn't even know it. It was a lesson learned at an appropriate time in my life that you can never blindly trust people. And yes, abalone taste great, cut thin, beaten with a hammer and cooked with butter. Bob

Good story. Are you saying that that the ab was collected for an entire week, and not kept in a recirculating holding tank? They can survive for hours out of water (think tides) but to ask them to hold their breath for a week is too much. Maybe it was poaching ( ) , and with not very smart poachers at that.

Dan

Dan, it was a pretty low budget operation.  As I remember, they just layered the abalone between burlap bags and had someone pour sea water over them to keep them alive.  It may not have been a full week that we were doing this, but it was at least four days.  Maybe they were all dead.  But, looking back on how it was handled, the whole deal sure smelled FISHY.    Sorry, I couldn't resist.   Bob

[BigBlackDodge]

They eat kelp, so a baited hook would not do it.


Well duh! Bait the hook with Kelp!


BBD