This is a very good idea who’s time has come, however late. Pinto Abalone stocks have collapsed in the Salish Sea and WDFW has been working hard for twenty years to try and reverse this. Help out by supporting this effort and sending in letters of support to the email or mailing address below.
The Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife is seeking your input on a status review of the pinto abalone (Haliotis kamtschatkana), a Candidate for State Endangered Species. Populations of these iconic marine snails have not recovered from historic harvests and may merit additional protection. We recognize that Washington based state and federal natural resource agencies have an important perspective on the status of our state’s marine species and habitats. We would appreciate your participation in the following way:
Directly submit your opinions and/or questions regarding the status review to:
Washington State Department of Fish and Wildlife
c/o Michael Ulrich, Fish Program
P.O. Box 43200
Olympia, WA 98504-3200
(360) 902-2737
What is the current status of pinto abalone in Washington? Some receiving this notice may recall an era in Washington when legal take of abalone was allowed and healthy populations existed in the Strait of Juan de Fuca and San Juan Archipelago. Recognizing a declining trend in populations during dive surveys, the department closed the recreational fishery in 1994. Since that time, the department has continued regular monitoring and results indicate that surveyed populations continue to decline or are entirely absent from areas once well established. Additionally, the increasing average size of remnant abalone, and absence of juveniles, indicates an aging population with little natural reproduction. Finding abalone anywhere in Washington waters is becoming more and more difficult.
What has the department been doing about these observed declines? By the early 2000’s it had become apparent that pinto abalone populations were unlikely to recover to sustainable levels without human intervention. A species restoration partnership was initiated with local non-profit organizations, as well as, tribes, universities, government agencies and commercial aquaculture. A captive breeding program was developed to produce hatchery juveniles for distribution into the wild. The resulting restoration program uses local, wild broodstock to rear disease-free juvenile abalone and, since 2009, has placed over 16,000 juveniles to sites in the San Juan Islands. Sites have been regularly monitored to assess growth and survival of the hatchery-origin abalone and the results have been encouraging. Many sites have matured into groups of adults at reproductive densities, although, a significant scale-up of the program will be necessary to achieve meaningful results on a state-wide basis.
What happens now? We are communicating to interested parties around the state to solicit data, opinions, and questions regarding the listing proposal. Following this period of public comment and a peer review of a draft status report (available on our website in December), the Washington Fish and Wildlife Commission will consider the status of the species. Please lend your voice to the discussion by submitting your opinions or attending a public meeting. (the meetings were advertised and held in early December in PT)
The period of public comment will conclude on March 31st, 2019. We hope to hear from you about the status of this integral species to Washington’s nearshore marine environment.
For more information, please visit https://wdfw.wa.gov/conservation/pinto_abalone/
Thank you in advance for your help.
Sincerely,
Michael Ulrich, Shellfish Biologist
Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife
Filed under: Puget Sound, Shellfish | Tagged: pinto abalone, Puget Sound, Shellfish, Snails |
