DFG to consider closure of ab fishery..

http://cdfgnews.wordpress.com/2011/09/12/closure-of-abalone-fishery-under-consideration/

 

Sincerely,

Jim

Saw the DFG boats doing their surveys off of Reef today while surfing nearby. The gulls have done a good job cleaning up the dead abs. Just a few husks left. They look like round french bread rolls that birds have pecked out all the soft bread inside.  jim

Its a natural occurence so if I think that Mother Nature knows best then everythings OK. What I dont abide by is voluntarily saying we sall stop all abalone diving because of the event. The Ocean Conservancy and NRDC can spin that to their delight. " Even the divers think theres a problem. So we must stop all ab diving forever." I can hear it now out of Garrisons maw. The birds gotta eat too. If 51,000 abalone were taken at the fort alone last year, me thinks thats a hell of alot more than died off. I have to dive now to see for myself.

That article sure sounds like a scare tatic. They can say anything they want. Is the state alone underwriting the divers who are doing the studies I wonder. Like theres some huge disease we all need to worry about. Give me a break.

Maybe they should just open Big Sur to take the heat off the north coast, just saying.

I was talking with a DFG warden that lives by me yesterday and we had a good laugh when I mentioned that the state should have an emergency re-opening of Stewarts Point.

I'm surprised we haven't gotten any firsthand reports already, or like me this last weekend, didn't want to get into that mix of seawater and dead flesh just yet.

Dale, the vis is still pretty crappy. Maybe 5ft or so where I was. Plus, as you said, there still looks like there's a bunch of yucky dead stuff floating around.

FM1, excellent idea! 

ok this just posted on my FB page from a guy at the local dive shop,


Just spoke to one of the guys gathering data for F & G and he says the die off is 40% in some locations, but is mostly centered around Ft Ross, and that they are finding different percentages at different depths and locals. He didn't seem to think there would be any cause to close it down elsewhere.


and more on this

this also posted on the NCUH site

What is going to happen tomorrow is Ian will give a presentation. The presentation will have the latest results from the Ft. Ross surveys and Salt Point surveys. Take and retain mental notes from that presentation. Dependent upon the results, Ian will at this time (move) to a recommendation that can include, emergency closure for the rest of season fishery wide or the Sonoma coast. He can recommend a site specific type of action like close Ft. Ross or he can recommend reductions fishery wide based upon the how the resent results of the two surveys affected the fishery plan as a whole and or he can do any combination of the alternatives now before the commission to reduce catch of recreational abalone. Based upon yesterdays conservation with Ian it is highly likely that Ian may ask the commission to include emergency closure to the list of alternatives now before the commission


so lets se what happens tomorrow

I dove timber cove 2 1/2 weeks back during the red tide and it was ugly.

Vis was maybe 2 feet in 0-12 feet, the water had that muddy red color that lake shasta gets when the waves wash up on the clay shores. below the layer of red tide there was maybe like 5 or 6 feet of vis.

I paddled out and was diving in 20-25 ft of water maybe 700 ish yards north of the timber cove launch and I have to say, it looked like half the abs were upside down/ covered in star fish/ out of their shell/unresponsive. I made maybe 15 dives and saw like 60 abs, and 15 were probably covered in star fish/upside down, and 15 were probably limp fully extended out of their shell and unresponsive.

one time i bumped one with my elbow while pulling another, and the one fell off the rock.

when cleaning them the vein that runs into the foot, behind the head was swollen filled with redish algae stuff. I just cut the vein out and ate the ab and am fine,

but yeah it was ugly

Thanks for the info so far.