On December 11, 2011, the San Diego Union Tribune published a short piece entitled "Abalones cling to life as recovery plan forms
." The article cited NOAA fisheries biologist, Dr. John Butler, and his current research in the field.
The piece covers a brief history of abalone, spanning from early Native American use to the trials and tribulations present for abalone over the past half century. While several species were almost completely eradicated by the end of the 20th century, recent years have found a slight increase due to the efforts of conservation laws and the abalone's own evolving resistance to bacteria. Nevertheless, the future of abalone remains bleak unless further measures are taken.
For more information on Abalone research, please visit our Population Monitoring of the Endangered White Abalone page.