Northern abalone
Species of concern in the Puget Sound Georgia Basin: changes between 2002 and 2006
Northern Abalone Restoration: Size Matters
New research, funded by the SeaDoc Society, has evaluated the use of hatchery-raised pinto abalone to restore abalone populations. The results are encouraging...
Abalone Declines
Abalone are a part of the Pacific North West’s natural heritage. Today however, many people associate abalone and the abalone fishery with California, rather than the Puget Sound Georgia Basin which is home to the Northern abalone (Haliotis kamtschatkana), also called the Pinto abalone.
When One Endangered Species Eats Another
What do you do when one endangered species eats another?
Sea otters, once extirpated in Washington, are now recovering thanks to several transplantations from Alaska. They eat up to 25% of their body weight a day in abalone, clams, crabs, sea urchins, and other invertebrates. This is a concern, because the northern (pinto) abalone also has declined precipitously in Washington and efforts are underway to bring back this culturally and ecologically important mollusk. Complicating the issue, young abalone might hide under sea urchins for protection and Washington has a sizeable state and tribal commercial urchin harvest.