Abalone article in the SF Chronicle

With a little over a month away until Ab season opens up, the San Francisco Chronicle had an abalone article including a couple recipes.

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2007/02/28/FDGKBO9AV31.DTL

Brian

I read that article yesterday and its good to know the farms are doing well maybe it will cut down on poaching. I got a kick out of the little how to shuck and prepare the abalone section.

Indeed, the only way to save the wild abalone (and our season) in the long run is for the abalone farms to reduce the market price of abalone to a level where commercial poaching isn't attractive.  That and drawing a line in the sand at HMB WRT otters.

If you get a chance,try the abalone bisque at The Sardine Factory on Cannery Row.Locally farmed in Davenport,sustainable and delicious!

This the way Freddie and I like eating them...
http://zo-d.com/stuff/food/abalone-sashimi.html
With some soy sauce and wasabi, it's awesome!!!

Chuck, yer killin me! Guess I shouldn't have looked at the link while I was hungry. Now that's all I want for dinner!

Indeed, the only way to save the wild abalone (and our season) in the long run is for the abalone farms to reduce the market price of abalone to a level where commercial poaching isn't attractive.  That and drawing a line in the sand at HMB WRT otters.

Aside from killing otters, which is unacceptable, how do you do that?

You can't collect abs in HMB..right? I thought it was only open north of SF.

PK

Why would otter population control be unacceptable? Because they are cute?

Why would otter population control be unacceptable? Because they are cute?

Because they're endangered, and they are not out of control. Their population is a fraction of historic levels.

As I understand it, Abalone and urchin population levels are also low compared to historical levels. Ditto for Pismo clams. Otters consume a significant number of all of these species. Why not control otter populations to benefit man, clams, urchins and abs?

Regards,
Scott

As I understand it, Abalone and urchin population levels are also low compared to historical levels. Ditto for Pismo clams. Otters consume a significant number of all of these species. Why not control otter populations to benefit man, clams, urchins and abs?

Regards,
Scott

I read this excerpt from http://www.sierraclub.org/sierra/200603/abalone.asp which makes some sense...

Abalone numbers began sliding immediately after. To look at a chart of the annual take, knowing that fishing technology and market demand were both getting stronger, is to watch the inexorable exhaustion of a once plentiful resource. The roaring comeback of the sea otter in central California starting in the late 1930s--today there are about 2,700 otters, almost all between Monterey Bay and Point Concepcion--played a definite role. So did the big El Nino winter in 1983; warm sea-surface temperatures, like those associated with greenhouse-gas-driven global warming, can wipe out kelp habitat, depriving abalones of their primary food. There has also been a proliferation of withering syndrome, a mysterious disease that has driven one subspecies of abalone to near extinction. But unsustainable harvesting has clearly been the biggest problem: Each time an abalone species has collapsed from overfishing, divers have simply moved on to the next, pushing it, in turn, to the brink.