California Fish and Game commissioners have agreed with former abalone divers to reopen a commercial abalone fishery in Southern California, ignoring the advice of state biologists who warn it could thwart recovery of the delicious mollusk decimated by excessive harvesting.
The decision, which must first pass an extensive environmental review, could mean the return of large abalone steaks in upscale restaurants and markets and a lucrative catch for the abalone divers who have struggled since the commercial fishery was closed in 1997.
Full-size red abalone, poached from waters mostly off Northern California, routinely fetch $100 apiece on the black market, wardens say. They worry that allowing the hunt for legal, full-size abalone in Southern California waters will make it more difficult to halt poachers who supply Asian markets here and abroad, where abalone is prized as an aphrodisiac -- sometimes marketed as a natural Viagra in a shell.
State Fish and Game Department officials understand the powerful allure of reopening the legal harvest of the scarce and pricey commodity.
"It's like pulling $100 bills from the bottom," said Pete Haaker, a longtime abalone expert and state Fish and Game biologist.
Commercial abalone divers, who earlier this month persuaded the commissioners to allow an experimental commercial catch around San Miguel Island off Santa Barbara County, said they would be vigilant in assessing abalone populations to avoid the mistakes of excessive hunting in the past.
"None of us want to operate a fishery the way we used to," said Jim Marshall, a former abalone diver from Carpinteria who now makes a living collecting sea urchins. "We want a sustainable fishery that can operate over a long time."
Commercial divers argue that Fish and Game managers are being too cautious at a time when red abalone around San Miguel Island have begun to rebound. State biologists said that data were skimpy. They need to do more underwater surveys to know if there are sufficient numbers to sustain a fishery.
The plan of Fish and Game managers "is to wait 30 years and then reopen the fishery," Marshall said. "We don't want to wait. We are going to slow the recovery" of abalone populations "by fishing a little bit. We are not going to stop recovery."
The commissioners' decision, made at a meeting Dec. 9, is likely to ignite another round of abalone wars, pitting recreational divers, biologists and conservationists against commercial divers.
