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Topic: what a shock!  (Read 1621 times)

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dirkbeachman

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I've been out of the country for the past 7 months so naturally was really looking forward to jumping into N CA waters again asap. Went up to a fave mendo shore dive with my trusty dive dog, skipper, with nice conditions forecast. This is a spot that I last dove maybe 8 months ago and was ab heavy and pretty fishy as well (my younger daughter got a nice 22 ling there and I shot my pb black there another time).  I had heard that the ab limit got dropped to 12 and thought "that sucks." I  was someone who wrote in last year saying there were plenty of abs and the limits didn't need to get lowered.

Anyway, almost right away, I was shocked. Terrain with great structure formerly only challenging because it could be hard to figure out the structure through the bull kelp was totally exposed, like almost zero kelp. And when I looked under rocks or angles, where there were always at least 4 or 5 good abs, like 8 1/2 -9 inchers, there were zero or at the most one. Incredible. And yes, little purple urchins everywhere!  Instead of plenty of blacks cruising around, there were still rubberlips, but just a scattering of small to medium blacks and some greenlings. In all that great structure I didn't find a single cab or ling. Wow- can't believe things can have changed so fast. Took home one 9 ab but not at all a butterball and a reasonable greenling, but am still trying to adjust.

Oh the one positive is I took an actual hammer out with me (one thing I learned in NZ) and completely cleared two rock faces of those little purple devils. I want to check back in a month or two and see if anything is growing there or if they're there covered again in purple.  I had thought the ab wasn't a starved specimen, but I did find once I had it trimmed, that the total meat was probably more like an 8" from the past. Also, has anyone else noticed this?
The meat seemed really water packed. It leaked a lot when sliced and when cooked, shranked way more that I remember abalone ever doing in the past.

Anyway, that was my "welcome back" surprise- really, really hope that isn't the story all along the coast!


BigJim

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Bummer...I've heard similar stories this year from several people, but have also heard about and seen areas that don't look that horrible.

#deathtotheurchins

 :smt013

Sincerely,

Jim

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mtitch12

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Bummer, I've been shocked as well a couple of times this year finding very skinny abalone and urchin barrens at some spots that have always had big meaty abalone in past years. On the bright side, I have been seeing more starfish so hopefully they take advantage of all these urchins and start taking them out.

But I have been able to find some fat ones as well in other areas where the kelp is still growing strong. Look at this pic of two abs, one from one spot one day and another from another spot the day after. The one on the left was a 9.25 inch abalone but had the meat of an 8 (or even less), while the one on the right was only 9 inches but was massive and filled out its shell very well.

Hopefully they recover. I would have no problem with further reducing limits or increasing the minimum size to ensure the future of the fishery.
"Only need three more years before I can think like a fish."

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dirkbeachman

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Wow - look at how much smaller the attachment part of that left side ab is! I wonder if they actually shrink from starvation or if the animal just hasn't grown for a long time. Yes, I did notice more healthy looking abs in the shallows where it's still quite kelpy.


HamachiJohn

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Welcome to 2017 Ab season!  I found the same for myself when I dove Jughandle recently after a 2 year involuntary layoff (wife wouldn't let me dive after a friend drowned diving).  My 9" ab had the meat of a 7" or less, and it was mushy and watery like yours.  Hope you find a more productive area in the near future.
Down to 1 Hobie Revo...


4est

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I started getting Mendocino and Humboldt county abalone in 1977.
Got real busy and stopped diving in 2004. Started making trips to the coast again starting in 2014.

I have seen more little purple urchins in the last 3 years than I ever have. And in many places the ocean floor is covered with urchins killing everything.
The abs are still fat in heavy kelp,but unfortunately those heavy kelp forests are becoming few.

At GS11 Ron got this 10"er, the meat appears whimpy.

Compare it to a picture of 3-10's and a nine.
Then check out the meat in the truck full of abs, these abs were taken in the early 80's.
There were urchins back then the big red ones and they were few.
We always busted them up to fish in.
This is a sad event that's happening.




jd71

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Having dove Sea Ranch for the past 30 years, I have never seen so many urchins in my life!  I only took 2 abs after 3 days of diving...one was 9.5" and had the meat of a 7 inch ab...so sad.  I also noticed that the urchins have pushed the abs out of their caves and crevices onto the top of the rocks.  Hopefully the starfish make a big time comeback...those urchins need to be thinned. 

One other observation was that the near shore fishery is suffering....where I once was able to catch a pretty easy limit of perch and kelpfish, I struggle to catch 3-4 fish.  Not sure if this is part of natures cycle, but I am not a fan at this point.  My $0.02.


dirkbeachman

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Sand Dab, one trick I picked up from New Zealand (where snapper like urchins) is tucking an actual hammer in your weight belt. It sounds stupid, since most hand tools couldn't be used effectively in the water, but have you ever tried to find the right sized rock for breaking urchins? Not always easy- some are too big, that's crazy amount of work, some are small and you get spines in your knuckles. But an actual hammer works great! You'd be amazed how effectively you can clear an area! I can't promise kelp will grow back, but I did try clearing two not-too-huge flat faces and really hope when I check back that kelp has taken hold again. That would definitely inspire me to do a lot more! 
I always thought SeaRanch would be among the least affected- not as much diving or fishing, plenty of coves to protect the kelp. Scary if that stretch of coast is getting adversely affected!


ApneaAddict

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Yeah, unfortunately what you describe is what many of us have observed on the north coast over the past 2 years, and particularly the past 6 months or so. The meat in the shell most definitely grows and shrinks based on the health of the animal. When it shrinks small enough, the ab just falls off the rock and then dies. The kelp this year actually seems slightly better than last year, but it seems like the abs are dying at a greater rate this year. My thought is that they were able to hold out for a while, living off the energy in their meat, but have finally passed the tipping point and are now dying in mass.  Even in the healthiest pockets of reef I've observed, the abs aren't nearly as thick and fat as they used to be, which makes me wonder if they will continue to slowly decline in these areas too. 

I've done a bit of research on kelp ecology and unfortunately what I have read worries me in terms of the rate at which we can expect recovery of our kelp on the north coast. The research that has been done on this subject indicates that the thick and healthy kelp forest is a stable ecological state, but so too is the urchin-barren condition. Moving from thick forest to urchin barren requires a major ecological disturbance and generally so too does moving from urchin barren back to thick kelp forest. To get to this ugly state we had multiple ecological disturbances in the form of years of abnormally warm water, sea star wasting disease, rough winter ocean conditions, and poor summer upwelling. This summer all of those abnormal conditions have gone back to normal, but I don't know if normal conditions will be enough to prompt recovery. I've got my fingers crossed for some nasty urchin disease to wipe all those buggers out...

The one habitat type that I observed seemed to be nice and healthy was low lying rocky habitat surrounded by sand. Here it seemed that the sand had blasted the urchins away, allowing the palm kelp to thrive. One area of this habitat I saw the reef had a normal number of urchins, lots of palm kelp, some bull kelp, and what looked to me like probably 3 to 4 times as many abs as would normally be expected. I suspect that abs even migrated across sand in order to reach this little area of healthy reef. With that in mind, though, I wondered how many abs must have died in that journey for every one that made it safe. I suspect a lot....