Ah Baloney

On a recent dive at a site I often visit, I decided to explore an area that I had never looked at before. In fact, it was an area I doubt any diver has really looked at because it just does not look diveable.

As I approached my intended exploration site, I noticed a green abalone. Although most abalone were decimated decades ago by the one-two punch of sport and commercial harvesting, and a disease known as withering syndrome, it is not unusual for me to see 1-3 abalone at this site if I look hard enough.

I continued into the area and discovered a 5-6' long crevice with 7 abalone in it. Now THAT was a find. Abalone are broadcast spawners that need to be no more than 18" apart for successful reproduction. I continued on and counted 28 green abalone before I stopped counting! This is the largest cluster I've seen in about 25 years. I'm estimating there were at least 100 abalone in this one small area.

I reported the find to the California Dept. of Fish & Game. Hopefully this refugium will provide a breeding cluster to help restock abalone populations over the next few decades.

I also saw additional abs at the other two sites we dove today. One adult looked like the flat abalone. One of the young ones also looked different... possibly a baby pink or even a white.

Also filmed my second and third brachiopods. They were on the bottom at about 175 ft. Cool.

Healthy kelp is beginning to return at some of the sites on the windward side of the island and the West End. Great to see real kelp "forests" reappearing after the summer's blast furnace.

8:00 AM - 10/11/2006 - post comment