Empty abalony shells everywhere...2012

Went diving Sat and was shocked at all the empty shells I saw and we dove deep 20-30ft + in open ocean.
I got my limit but nowhere as many abs in this honey hole. This place used to look like coins in a fountain ab's
everywhere now GONE!
I predict they will close the season early and if we get another die off you wont be getting abalone for 5 to 10 years.
They should lower the limit to two and the yearly limit to 12 starting now. But no they will wait till its too late and be in a big panic and close it indefinitely mark my words. Fish and Game don't know how to regulate this coast like the abalone divers and fishermen that have been diving and fishing here for 40 years, same places so we see the change. Like the cod fishing most fishermen could have told you 12 years ago they should shorten the season early to let the cod come back.

Where were you? I don't want you to give up your "honey hole" but maybe it's something that needs to be seen.

Anthony

WOW!! when a diver tells me they need to lower the limits and shorten the season....., I know it must be bad. Thanks for the report Dave.

Funny you brought that up . I noticed the same thing Saturday during my ab run. Although I wasn't diving as deep.

I saw a ton of empty shell/dead ones in the 6-10' range, I saw only one live one in that range, it was short. Lots of vacant cracks and small caves. Saw no uni.

Now in the 15'-20' range, there seemed to be quite a few, most decent cracks and small caves had them in side. The visibilty was the bigger challenge.

Went diving Sat and was shocked at all the empty shells I saw and we dove deep 20-30ft + in open ocean.
I got my limit but nowhere as many abs in this honey hole. This place used to look like coins in a fountain ab's
everywhere now GONE!
I predict they will close the season early and if we get another die off you wont be getting abalone for 5 to 10 years.
They should lower the limit to two and the yearly limit to 12 starting now. But no they will wait till its too late and be in a big panic and close it indefinitely mark my words. Fish and Game don't know how to regulate this coast like the abalone divers and fishermen that have been diving and fishing here for 40 years, same places so we see the change. Like the cod fishing most fishermen could have told you 12 years ago they should shorten the season early to let the cod come back.

Today is April 8th.  How many spots have you dove that look like what you described? 

Plenty of abs in the south Gerstle area.

They should lower the limit to two and the yearly limit to 12 starting now. But no they will wait till its too late and be in a big panic and close it indefinitely mark my words. Fish and Game don't know how to regulate this coast like the abalone divers and fishermen that have been diving and fishing here for 40 years, same places so we see the change.

So you only harvested 2 then, right? 

I agree with your thought on limit restrictions.

Taking a few for a couple of BBQ's over the summer is cool. Waiting 10 years to Ab again is not.



S.

You divers know what I am talking about clusters of ab's. I used to see clusters of ab,s in this spot and now it was one here one there and I saw none like 3-4 next to each other like I did last year. Granted it viability was bad but it was calm I had a lot of down time to cruse around and it did not look good.
Now this is the first dive on the season so lets hope next time different spot it will look better.

What general area were you diving in? Is it possible that you discovered a poaching area, where abs have been taken from the shells. To send up an alarm like you are suggesting would take some real studies to confirm you are not seeing just a small area of concern.

Hey I hope I am very wrong very wrong but I have been diving and fishing this water for 40 years and even in poached areas (I know what that looks like). Alot of the shells were wedge in between rocks like they were alive and then just "died in place" not just laying around up side down.
The next few dives in different places will tell or other divers reporting the same thing.
I hope I am wrong...

To send up an alarm like you are suggesting would take some real studies to confirm you are not seeing just a small area of concern.

Indeed, seriously monumental.

What area were you?

Anthony

I'm not sure where you dove and how far out/deep you were able to get, but I have to say that the the population of abs in the 25' plus range is still very healthy. Now I will agree that the remains of dead abs in the shallows are present, and it's obvious it's from the die off, but to say that the species is in danger, is a little far fetched.

You see, when the die off occurred it suffocated every bivalve along the affected shoreline, unless they were able to smell what was to come and high tale it to deeper water. The ammonia from the death was too much for the natural shore breaks to skim, thus causing a huge spike in bacteria to finish off the already depleted oxygen along the affect shoreline. If you were a fish, you could book it to deeper water and wait for dinner to drift your way and be served. The abs, scallops, urchin, lipids, etc, on the other hand choked and died.

Okay-so your saying to yourself now, duh, I already knew this. But....did you know that the macro algae that normally thrived along the affected area died as well and the wrong kind of micro algae smothered everything and moved in. Even the hard coralline algae, pink colored stuff on rocks, bleached out and died. So now your wondering what that has to do with this years season.

Well if you were an Ab and nothing smelled good enough to cruise shallow to eat, would you leave your sweet deep pocket and risk the Sahara for a crumb? So all I'm saying is that your not seeing anything in the shallower region, yet, because there isn't enough of the right macro algae around to support a healthy ecosystem and to entice the abs to come marching in. I'd say give it a few warm summer months after the fresh water from the rain stops and you'll see plenty of residents taking up their usual nooks and crannies. But in the meantime I suggest diving deeper and researching a little before joining random sites for the first time only to shout "Bomb".

Happy Diving!

Geoff