OK, this is going to offend many, enlighten a few and generally let me wax historic, but blaming the commercial guys is
not the sole cause to the decline of abalone, especially the red abalone in California.
There I feel much better. :head
Commercial fishermen have it pretty tough and I say that having been one in a few species and areas, abalone and sea urchins being the most relative to this discussion. While nobody put a gun to my head and said, "Be a commercial fisherman," there are many ways of going broke with considerably more difficulty and less risk of losing the farm and the digits. The commercial fishermen are doing what they are allowed and mandated to do within the set(s) of regulations that you, we, us voters tell our politicians to enact. Any less and they go broke. Any more and they get popped by the fish cops. In the middle there is a very small area where you can do alright financially if you bust your ass, and don't go out with some hot blonde more than once a month. To Mc Donalds.
As with every other sport and avocation there will be a few idiots that feel it is beneathe them to follow the guidelines and limits and they go merrily poaching away. Some will get caught, most will not, a few will get hurt and the rest will go on to more lucrative sidelines like selling crack and pictures of kids. This ruins the whole show for everybody that's doing it right and even more detrimental is the damage it does to the public perception. When John Q. Public see's a slew of fish on the beach the immediate reaction is one of "Why so many fish for one guy?", and the race is on to limit access and redefine the size and bag limits. But back to abalone....
The decline and now the virtual complete absence of abalone in Southern California is due to three things- yes, the commercial take was not sustainable, the sport diver pressure was huge, and a little bug called "withering foot" disease did the rest. In hindsight, yes, the industry should have gone to limited entry sooner with smaller daily and yearly limits, but those same commercial guys were the
only ones that were putting into the fund for studying farming. The sport guys were diving abs with SCUBA until the late 70's. C'mon...SCUBA??! And no one, especially the NOAA, EPA and DFG guys saw the withering foot thing coming. Call it ab AIDS.
So now what? Up North here it's always been abs by freediving and the limits are now such that it's sometimes a real decision as to head out for a measly three and even then we only get 24 per year. Good for us, I say.
In the meantime, the politicians are tapping the fee's for the filling of pockets andpotholes, the few entrepenurial types are scratching away at abalone farming, the fishcops are undersatffed and underpaid, and abalone are still being secreted away in the bags and pants of less than smooth individuals and their kin. What to do?
Support the few acts of legislation that puport to identify and enhance abalone research. Do the same for access issues. Join a club that activly promotes healthy competitions by size and specie limits. And here's the biggie- even if the laws say you can take three abalone a day, how many do you really need? Sure, you're having the gang over for a feed, by all means. But if it's you and the resident vitamin sales blonde, one is plenty. And if you're allowed 24 per year, yeah, stuff a few in the freezer, but only having a punch card with 20 holes is less a sign that you're good and more a sign that you're a good guy.
Smooth even.