Easy Abalone 5/15

We tried a new (to us) spot on Saturday. It was a -1.26 tide, and there wasn't a place to park the trucks when we arrived. We watched a huge number of shore pickers coming up the trail as we headed down (an hour after low tide.) I asked them all how they did, and was surprised by an overall 'meh' report.

Once into the water, we sorta fanned out as we crossed a large distance of hip-deep rocky bottom. I had a feeling there would be a drop right where there was a little break, and sure enough, there were 8"+ abalone everywhere in about 8' of water.


Am I alone in finding it somewhat disconcerting that nearly all of them are the same size? I think I gauged about 25 abalone that were 8-8.5" and only one that was 7.25". Maybe all the other sevens were hanging out elsewhere with the sixes and fives. Maybe they crawl into the intertidal and get scooped up by the pickers. Anyhow, I think I came out with 3 8.5" shells. I'd like to spend more time and find the bigger ones, but was feeling a little pressure with a newb in tow and buddies who collected a limit on the way out that were ready to swim back. Next time, I'll just send them in and take more time I think....


Congratulations to Matt who spontaneously became an abalone diver late Friday night, and managed to pull the biggest, fattest abalone of all Saturday. Good job on that first limit - I'm sure there will be many more.

I haven't been ignoring the blog, and my abalone obsession remains unchecked. I've been working on an "epic" piece of literature about the abalone fishery, the Abalone Recovery and Management Plan, the Marine Life Protection Act, and how it all fits together for abalone divers and fans. I've seen more than one loquacious post followed by someone wishing the whole situation were more clear. I'm shooting for something with minimum verbosity and maximum understanding. Stay tuned.

"Abalone Point" and [Not] Withering Syndrome

Point Reyes South

My buddy bailed out on me Friday night, but the conditions were so good, I had to find a way to get in the water. I've owned Bruce Watkins' A Diver's Guide to Northern California since it came out in 2000, and recently plotted the sites from the book on Google Maps. In a short, incorrectly-formatted paragraph near the end of the book he describes a spot in Southern Point Reyes where there are allegedly "mean" near-shore abs. I talked my kids into coming along and we were hiking down the beach by 9 A.M.

We'd made an exploratory excursion earlier this year before the season opened, so I knew where to park and how to hike down the trail to the beach. It's generally as Bruce says in his book, though that little trail is somewhat washed-out, covered in poison oak, and there's a scramble near the end not for the faint-of-heart. Incidentally, you can park at the big lot at the end of the road, and hike a nearly-flat (though much longer) trail to the beach. Having never dove here before, I was going almost entirely on Bruce's description, though there was one bit that had me confused: He states that the hike from the car to the beach is about 1/3 mile (which I believe it is) and that the hike from the beach to "Abalone Point" is another 1/3 mile (which it is not.)

Abalone Point is, technically-speaking, the not-very-distinct point to the south of double point, but that is a lot farther than 1/3 mile from where you step onto the beach, and, since it wasn't yet low-tide, there were some big rocks we'd have to wade around to get to Abalone Point proper. I bet it's about 1.5 miles to the actual point from where the trail meets the beach, and I'm thinking Bruce means the tiny bump about 1/3 mile from the end of the trail.

In the end, we hiked a lot more than I think we needed to. Gonna chalk that one up to "learning experience." In the water, I was having a hard time finding the right place, and was signaling the kids to follow as I drifted south from where I got in. For about 40 minutes I didn't see even one abalone. Not even a little one. Then, as I was ready to pack it in and concede defeat, I figured something out and quickly popped a couple 8-inchers before heading in.

Next time I have a much better idea of where to start, but if someone experienced would like to show me the ropes here, I'd be forever grateful. Any takers?

[Edit: Not] Withering Syndrome


Here they are. The shells are nearly the same size, and in the water I didn't really notice anything special about either one. Quick measure of the shell and into the game bag. It was when tagging them that it became obvious that something was up with that one on the left above.


He has a gnarly "wound" there on the rim of the shell, and overall the shell is really thick and oddly-shaped. It's probably 2-3 times the normal thickness for a red abalone, and very "worn." By comparison, the other ab has a typical, attractive shell with nearly the same outside dimensions. I thought, "maybe, the odd one was just really old but never got very big," until I popped him from his shell.

It was immediately obvious that this wasn't just an unusual growth pattern. The gonad and gut were way too small for an abalone of his size, though the foot attachment seemed large. Feeling the gut, the whole thing seemed to be full of rocks, so I cut it open and removed a pile of hard bubbles [Edit: these were hard, solid "beads" that were filled with fluid]:


Is this it? Candidatus Xenohaliotis californiensis? The fabled abalone Withering Syndrome? The warm-water abalone disease that is blamed (along with greed) for the total destruction of the Southern California abalone population? I mean this was a not-well abalone with a tiny foot and something nasty going on in it's digestive tract. Compare the attachment point of the two abs relative to their foot size:


Maybe it was just a funky, geriatric abalone, with a bad case of indigestion, but somehow I doubt it. Anyone knowledgeable care to comment? [Edit: the pros say no, just a geriatric abalone.]

Stewart's Point Now Closed

The whole MLPA Thing is, honestly, a bit confusing. So much so that I had to geek-out and write a script to plot the exact coordinates on Google Maps. To make matters worse, it's incumbent on abalone divers (and fishermen) to keep track of the MLPA process and closures, since you can't expect a clear sign at every coastal access point.

Great, one more website I need to keep a sharp eye on. I'm seriously considering writing a script to download it every day and alert me if something changes.

As far as I can tell, Stewart's Point is the major Northern Central closure that affects abalone divers and pickers, so those of you who liked to get your abs at Fisk Mill Cove had better find somewhere else.

Apparently, not everyone is happy about the closure. The Pomo Indians take exception to being shut out of their historic fishing grounds, and the North Coast MLPA process doesn't seem to be going swimmingly either. It's a complex issue that probably doesn't have a make-everyone-happy resolution, and I think most of us don't feel there's much we can do other than try to understand, and wait for the results.

It Really Is Dangerous Out There

Brett Shoji Uchiyama [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6]
Raymong Chin Pang Shue [1] [2]
A 36-Year-Old San Francisco Man [1] [2]

Contemplating a Surf-Dance

My modern equivalent to the Native American Rain Dance consists of a twitchy obsession with NOAA swell models and predictions and the UC San Diego Coastal Data Information Program (both concisely summarized by dive-celebrity Chuck Tribolet on his North Coast Sea Conditions at a Glance page), reassuring glances at the Fort Ross Tide Tables, Other Surf Forecasts, good old-fashioned Weather, plus an intuitive sense for how the view from the Golden Gate Bridge this morning fits all the other information.

At the moment, Saturday looks good.

It's a risk, driving a couple hours into the unknown, and we're always ready to call the whole thing off if we have a significant safety concern. The Pacific gets the final say. She is not to be trifled with.