Haliotis cracherodii (Invertebrates)

Species Description

The black abalone, Haliotis cracherodii, is a species of large edible sea snail. It is relatively small compared to most other abalone species, but at least for most of its history, was the most prolific: it was considered the most abundant abalone species on the West Coast of North America, from Baja California to Mendocino County in California. Black abalone reach can live 30 years or more.

But today disease and overfishing has put the Black Abalone in grave danger of extinction. The species’ decline began following World War II, as the demand for abalone meat grew and species after species of abalone were harvested without adequate regulation. Black Abalone were the last to be targeted, with the peak harvest occurring in the 1970s. Today harvesting is illegal but poaching is still known to occur.

The depleted stocks of black abalone were further reduced by withering syndrome, first discovered in 1985 in some of the last large colonies of black abalone in the Channel Islands. The disease impairs the production of digestive enzymes, effectively starving the abalone to death. In many locations, greater than 90% of individuals have been lost to withering disease.

Today the Black Abalone is protected under the Endangered Species Act, and is one of the most recent additions to the GGNP’s list of threatened and endangered species. It is difficult to find in the GGNP: the species is very rare, is usually at some depth, and can be difficult for novices to distinguish from other abalone species.

Conservation Action Item

Fight Poaching:
Ask public officials to fund game wardens

California’s game wardens are our first line of defense against poaching. But California has the fewest game wardens per capita in the United States, making it nearly impossible to halt poaching of species like Black Abalone. Please call your public officials in the state government and ask that they devote more resources to our game wardens, before its too late.

Big Year Competitors have reported 0 sightings and taken 0 actions to help this species recover so far this year.

Trips

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