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Topic: Abalone shells?  (Read 2849 times)

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Seabreeze

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I got a bulletin from DFG.  It said people were cited for having abalone outside of their shells.  How can this be?
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bsteves

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I'd be careful Pat, even thinking about abalone south of San Francisco will probably get you a citation from DFG.  :smt018

There is in fact a regulation about this .... "Abalone must not be removed from the shell except when preparing for immediate consumption". 

There are probably a couple good reasons for this namely, it prevents waste and helps regulation enforcement...

1.) It makes it really tricky to store abalone in the freezer which ideally means you'd only catch what your going to eat soon.  And having the shells intact in the freezer makes it obvious whether you're violating the three ab at one time possesion limit or not.  Whereas a freezer full of non-descript white mollusk meat might be harder to enforce.

2.)  It's really hard to tell an abalone's shell size from its foot size.  If you were allowed to possess abalone without the shell, it would be a lot easier to get away with keeping under sized abalone.  For example, ... catch a bunch of 6 inch abalone, remove and discard shells, place in cooler with some nice 7 inch shells.  Without the "attached shell rule", Fish and Game would be helpless to prove that your abs were undersized.

Below are the rules on abalone from the DFG...
http://www.dfg.ca.gov/mrd/mapregs3.html

Abalone

The recreational fishery for red abalone (Haliotis rufescens) north of the mouth of San Francisco Bay will be open from April 1 through June 30, and from August 1 through November 30, 2006. The following regulations apply:

  • Only red abalone may be taken; no other species of abalone may be taken or possessed
  • No more than three red abalone may be taken or possessed at any one time. Each person taking abalone shall stop detaching abalone when the limit of three is reached
  • Undersize abalone must be replaced immediately to the same surface of the rock from which detached
  • Abalone must not be removed from the shell except when preparing for immediate consumption
  • No person shall take more than 24 red abalone during a calendar year
  • Abalone may only be taken by hand or by devices commonly known as abalone irons. All edges must be rounded and free of sharp edges
  • All red abalone must be seven inches or greater measured along the longest shell diameter
  • Red abalone may only be taken from one half hour before sunrise to one half hour after sunset
  • All persons taking abalone are required to carry a fixed caliper measuring gauge capable of accurately measuring seven inches
  • The use of SCUBA gear or surface-supplied air to take abalone is prohibited. Abalone may not be taken or possessed aboard any boat, vessel or floating device in the water containing SCUBA or surface-supplied air
  • All persons required to possess a sport fishing license must also have an Abalone Permit Report Card, and complete it as required in the sport fishing regulations. Abalone permit report cards must be returned to the address on the card within 30 days of the close of the abalone season, whether or not any abalone were taken
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Seabreeze

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uhhhhhhhhh.............I was just "thinking" about my friends north of SF.......yeah......that's what I was doing, Brian.......... :angel1:
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promethean_spark

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You're allowed to have the shells of any size abalone though.  I found some green ab shells and one small red in big sur last weekend.

I just put them in gallon zip-locks and put them in the deep freeze whole.  It's no big deal.  Once they thaw out they're very easy to peel free of their shell.  If you've only got a fridge freezer this might be prohibitive though.
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bsteves

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Pat,

It seems you were right to question the press release, you just picked the wrong statement to question.

I just read that DFG press release and found one major typo of note..right before the sentence about abalones not being removed from the shell...

Quote
They scrutinize the tools used by the harvesters, ensuring that abalone irons are at least 36 inches long with no sharp edges.

It should read   "... ensuring that abalone irons are no more than 36 inches..." 


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KayakJames

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I once had a warden warn me for colecting abalone shells from the beach but he could not give me a ticket because I knew the regs. You can keep the sheels you find as long as they have been picked clean and they have no meet whatsoever, at this point you can keep any size shell you want
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JohnGuineaPig

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so if i am down at otter cove and find a bunch of shells from abalone that are about 4-5" and want to keep them it would be ok? or does that fall into the invertebrate rules for the monterey bay? anyone know?