Eight years after the North Coast’s recreational abalone fishery was shut down due to an unprecedented decline in the population amid a greater collapse of the delicate ecosystem on which the prized mollusks depend, the state Fish and Game Commission is beginning the process to extend the closure another decade.
The three commissioners present at the April 17 meeting — Erika Zavaleta, Samantha Murray and Eric Sklar — voted unanimously to move forward with the extension, which would be the third since 2017.
“We all wish it was different but it’s not and, in this case, the science is so clear that it’s too high a risk,” Murray said.
If approved, the new proposed timeline would go into effect March 31, 2026 — one day before the current closure expires.
Murray also said there have been many discussions over the years about the possibility of allowing an extremely limited harvest, with the data gleaned from the taken abalone and their locations being used to inform recovery efforts. But she noted scientists have indicated they no longer believe that is necessary for assessing the population.
“I want to say that if there was a way we could do that, I would want to,” Murray said, adding the reality on the ground is this is a “very scary time for abalone and for kelp.”
The decision was based on recommendations forwarded by the commission’s Marine Resources Committee, of which Murray and Sklar are members, after hearing a presentation from state Fish and Wildlife Department staff in March on the status of California’s seven abalone populations overall, as well as the situation on the North Coast.
Once the last bastion for recreational abalone diving in California, the North Coast’s marine environment has been devastated by a series of ecological events dating back more than a decade, unraveling the fragile balance of one of the world’s most biodiverse ecosystems.
The so-called “perfect storm” of climate-driven impacts began back in August of 2011, when Sonoma County saw a massive die-off of marine life amid an outbreak of toxic algae. Two years later, a mysterious wasting disease wiped out an estimated 80 percent of sea stars along the Pacific Coast.
Especially devastated was the sunflower star — one of the largest sea stars in the world, with a full-accompaniment of 24 arms at maturity, that’s capable of downing a sea urchin whole — which is now considered functionally extinct.
Unfettered after the loss of one of its main predators, the purple sea urchin’s population exploded just as back-to-back marine heat waves — the so-called “warm water blob” of 2014 and the “Godzilla” El Niño of 2015 — hit.
Dependent on cool ocean temperatures to thrive, the region’s bull kelp forests became distressed, with some areas off the Mendocino and Sonoma coasts seeing declines of more than 90 percent compared to previous years.
Meanwhile, red abalone — unable to compete with the hordes of urchins that descended on the surviving bull kelp forests — began to starve as their main source of food was depleted, their numbers plummeting by an estimated 75 percent in the span of just a few years across a wide swath of coastline from Sonoma to Southern Humboldt.
That led to the commission’s unprecedented decision to shutter the entire recreation fishery in 2017 in a bid to give the struggling red abalone population a chance to recover, an action followed by two closure extensions in the ensuing years.
During the presentation at the MRC’s March meeting, Joanna Grebel, the California Department of Fish and Wildlife’s Marine Region Invertebrate Program manager, said the situation hasn’t really changed much.
“Despite the moratorium … the abalone population has shown no signs of significant recovery,” she said. “The kelp forests on the North Coast still have not rebounded and we’re still seeing a lot of purple urchins up there and no returning of our keystone predator,” she said. “Given the continued decline of the kelp forests and the lack of abalone recovery, the department recommends to keep the current recreational closure and implement an indefinite moratorium.”
Grebel noted that “we have had some information from members of the public at various meetings about the existence and persistence of some pockets of red abalone,” which she described as “extremely good news,” adding “documenting these locations is definitely information we are interested in.”
Still, she said, “We do need to be mindful that while these pockets do exist, given the population’s overall low abundance on that great scale, any additional harvest is expected to limit or destroy recovery.”
One of the issues that complicates red abalone’s ability to rebound is the mollusks take years to reach maturity. Another is they reproduce by sending sperm and eggs out into the water, which requires dense populations for a successful match to be made.
According to Grebel, the North Coast is still showing “very low” levels of juvenile abalone recruitment.
The recovery of the region’s bull kelp forests presents a similar scenario.
Unlike its southern cousin, the giant kelp, bull kelp grows as a single stalk and dies off each year — basically an annual marine plant rather than a perennial — making it more vulnerable to urchin intrusions that can inhibit new growth’s ability to gain a foothold.
“We’ve lost over 90 percent of bull kelp in some areas and there’s been essentially no recoveries since 2014,” Grebel said.
As for the sunflower star, which she described as “vital to maintaining healthy kelp forests,” only five were observed statewide in 2023, Grebel said.
“The near disappearance of a critical keystone predator has really just further exacerbated this problem we have of an exploding purple urchin population,” she said, noting that in some areas up to 60 times the historic level of urchins have been observed. “Obviously, it’s been a critical factor in kelp forest collapse and the continued collapse.”
Several speakers from a range of environmental organizations supported extending the closure to protect red abalone into the future, with one saying they urged the committee and the commission to “take a precautionary approach to managing red abalone, which is a truly beloved species but is increasingly vulnerable, as we all know, to climate change.”
A representative of the organization Fish On, which describes itself as supporting “meaningful, ambitious ocean protection policy” and “ocean justice and equitable access issues for fishing communities across the United States” echoed those sentiments while also noting the “cultural significance of abalone to California’s Native tribes.”
Others, including long-time recreational abalone divers and current commercial fishers, voiced support for opening up a limited take for data collection purposes while also acknowledging the threats facing the marine environment.
Those included a commercial fisher in Fort Bragg who said he grew up in the area and has been working on kelp restoration efforts as an urchin diver. He told the committee he’s personally seen “healthy areas of abalone that are still surviving” during his time in the water.
He said he understands the department does random surveys, which he described as “just throwing a dart at a map,” that could explain why the observed numbers might be low, but noted he’s “seen in the last year recruitment of baby red abalone in nearby vicinities to healthy red abalone populations.”
“I support what would be a diminished fishery, maybe a raffle-style lottery system, maybe with proof of residency to the area, where abalone would be harvested,” he said, adding it would allow the department to “collect free data.”
In responding to comments about the possibility of a de minimis fishery, Murray said her understanding is “we don’t need abalone taken out, we don’t need bodies, to get the data we need,” comments she would echo at the commission meeting a month later.
“I’m game to take a risk on data collection if there’s a big reward at the end of it,” she said. “I don’t see that in this case.”
Fellow commission member Sklar agreed, saying at the MRC meeting, “In this case, taking any abalone seems to be an incredibly high risk of there ever being abalone again.”
Like many other people, he added, he also wanted to be back in the water diving for abalone.
“The only way that’s going to happen is if we are very careful,” Sklar said.
Murray and Sklar both said they thought the department’s recommendation of an indefinite closure was not the best path forward and instead agreed to bring to the commission a proposal for closing down the recreational fishery for another 10 years, along with others from the department to focus on species recovery, the kelp restoration management process and development of community partnerships for abalone monitoring and recovery efforts.
“What we need to do is go out and look at the abalone without taking any of them,” he said, noting that would be an important way to gather data, including where the abalone are located — and where they are not.
The issue is slated to come back before the commission for discussion in August and October, with a final decision on the proposed additional decade-long closure expected in December.
Kimberly Wear is the Journal’s digital editor. Reach her at (707) 442-1400, extension 107, or kim@northcoastjournal.com.
This article appears in Summer of Fun 2025.