Black abalone gets endangered species status

The National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration’s Fisheries Service determined black abalone, an edible marine mollusk, should be listed as endangered under the Endangered Species Act, according to a news release today, Jan. 14.
The ruling takes effect on Feb. 13, and comes one year after the fisheries service proposed to list the species.
Once harvested for food, black abalone were plentiful in intertidal waters along the Pacific coast.
The species was harvested early in California’s history by native Americans and peaked as a commercial fishery in the state in the 1970s. The state of California closed commercial and recreational harvesting of black abalone in 1993.
Since the 1980s, black abalone abundance has plummeted primarily from a bacterial disease known as withering foot syndrome. The spread of the disease may have been exacerbated by warmer coastal waters caused by factors such as long- and short-term changes in climate or from the warm water effluent of power plants. Other factors that may have led to the rapid population decline are historical overfishing, and poaching.
Coupled with the listing decision, NOAA’s Fisheries Service is also soliciting comments and information relevant to the designation of critical habitat for black abalone.
According the LA Times, "The final decision, expected after a year of further study, would not have an immediate impact on the hunting of black abalone in California, which has been illegal here since 1993. But the listing could bring in federal money to help restore populations of the species, set aside critical habitat and impose criminal penalties for importing the mollusk from Mexico."
Decades ago, black abalone was known as the most abundant species of abalone from Northern Baja California, Mexico, to Monterey, Calif.
But "the scientific review team reported major declines in the population of black abalone, especially in the areas around the Channel Islands off Southern California," said Rod McInnis, Southwest Regional Administrator for NOAA’s National Marine Fisheries Service. “These proposed regulations seek federal protection for black abalone and requests input from the public in determining what areas might be included as critical habitat for the species.”
Withering syndrome is a bacterium that affects the digestive system and causes the abalone to shrink. The bacterium increases in warmer waters (that reach 65 degrees Fahrenheit) that can be attributed to warm water currents such as from El Nino, which some say are early signs of the effects of global warming, according to an article published by National Geographic.
Other causes of the rapid population decline are likely due to historical overfishing, poaching and natural predation. NMFS has considered recent preliminary evidence, which suggests a small disease resistant population may exist at San Nicolas Island. Even with this possibility, the likelihood that black abalone populations will continue to decline towards extinction (within the next 30 years) is very high.
If the listing under the ESA is passed this year, the black abalone would join the white abalone, which was placed on the endangered-species list by the National Marine Fisheries Service in May 2001.
"Estimates of where the white-abalone population stood 30 years ago run from 2.2 million to 4.2 million, but recently their population along the coast was estimated at just a couple thousand."