When Did Abalone Hunting Become Freedive Only?

[Laurie S.]

I was watching one of the first Sea Hunt episodes yesterday and they were scuba diving to get abalone. I'm just curious, when did the law change that outlawed scuba for this?

 

[clownfishsydney]

Not sure about USA, but in Australia (New South Wales) you could use scuba till about 10 years ago. Here you cannot take anything at all, not that there are any crayfish or scallops.

In some other states you can still take things.

 

[fmerkel]

When the idiots thoroughly wiped out all the Abalone.

 

[drbill]

When the idiots thoroughly wiped out all the Abalone.

Actually it wasn't just SCUBA divers who wiped them out down in southern California. There was strong commercial pressure on them and withering syndrome hit back in the 1980s that put a near coup de gras on several species. Although we could take them down here on SCUBA when I first started diving SoCal back in the 1960s, it was far easier to simply go down to the beach at low tide and pop one or two off the rocks. I stopped take of all marine critters (except for scientific purposes) back about 1975. Up until the disappearance of our giant kelp over the past two years, we were seeing a slow recovery of greens and pinks here in island waters but without their primary food source they seem to be starving to death or weakening enough so predators can take them.

 

[fmerkel]

I actually meant ALL the idiots. They don't seem to be limited to certain activities. Commercial almost always takes a hugely bigger portion, but there are some divers that are in the same selfish category...."gotta get mine, to hell with everyone and everything else".

Unfortunately the laws limiting takes of this sort generally come about 5-10 years too late.

 

[drbill]

It would be interesting to see a good scientific study on whether the reduced population density due to sport and commercial take of abalone had a positive effect limiting the spread of withering syndrome. Possibly not since it was so widespread although I still know of sites with over 100 abalone in a small area. Such densities are important for successful spawning.

 

[fmerkel]

The pinto abalone have been so over harvested in the Puget Sound area that the density is not sufficient for spawning. They are functionally extinct. I see them rarely on dives. That didn't happen without some serious effort by some divers to get everything they could get their hands on. I call those of people idiots in no uncertain terms. There is no damn excuse, none at all.

There is a effort to reintroduce them via Aquaculture but it's tough.
Pinto Abalone Recovery