Huge Abalone and Sea Otters

Here is an interesting article a buddy of mine came across on

Your next ten inch ab might be a result of thousands of years of cohabitation with sea otters... or maybe not!  Cool article though.

http://soundwaves.usgs.gov/2006/02/research.html

Cool read Matt. Thanks, The article does contain the most dangerous quote in the world though.
 "the only hypothesis left".
 Randall

interesting read.
I like that they point out all the unforeseen consequences of our "best" management....or knee jerk as it may be...

Very interesting article indeed!  Thanks for the link Matt.

No surprise to me that otters and abs belong together...  I used to watch otters eating big abs down in San Mateo county - and it wasn't hard to find big ones for myself.


"Abalone divers, who typically despise the California sea otter because of its voracious appetite for the largest and tastiest of the shellfish"

This is like the hunters who claim that mountain lions kill "too many" deer and make it harder for hunters.

 

No surprise to me that otters and abs belong together...  I used to watch otters eating big abs down in San Mateo county - and it wasn't hard to find big ones for myself.


"Abalone divers, who typically despise the California sea otter because of its voracious appetite for the largest and tastiest of the shellfish"

This is like the hunters who claim that mountain lions kill "too many" deer and make it harder for hunters.

 

That would be me. Yep, I believe that a lower mountain lion population equates to more deer for hunters, fewer human/lion conflicts, and a California Bighorn Sheep population that isn't quite on the brink of extinction due to predation. Sounds horrible, doesn't it: "A lower mountain lion population makes for higher/better use of the natural resources of the state of California."

Please feel free to get the tar, feathers, stones, crucifix etc....

Regards,
Scott

A surge in the 20th century in the sea-otter population killed off the commercial abalone industry along the central and southern California coast and made it hard for sport divers to find any abalones, let alone large, 12-inch ones.

Is the article stating this as fact? Because I thought it had something to do with Withering Syndrome or some other disease...

 Sometime ago I read an article stating  something to the effect that otters keep down urchin populations  allowing for more eel grass leading much higher survival rates for juvenile fish. Otters=better fishing.Some people think the opposite.
  Reintroducing wolves in Yellowstone kept the elk etc. from hanging out streamside and trampling the vegetation and  a whole ecosystem was restored. Poplars and other cover came back along with all kinds of animals and birds.( pretty sure that's essentially correct, PBS nature show some years back).
   I wonder what effect a normal GWS population would have on fishing what with the seals.