Can Black Abalone Make A Comeback?
With their populations spread too far apart now to reproduce white abalone is nearly extinct, but black abalone may have a chance at a come back. There is evidence of successful reproduction in some black abalone colonies on the Channel Islands, giving researchers hope that they eventually can be restored in parts of the region.
The National Marine Fisheries Service recently formed a task force to save the black abalone, which was listed as federally endangered in 2009. A recovery plan is expected in about two years, though scientists said it’s complicated by poaching in the United States, limited harvest enforcement in Mexico and the potential that climate change will speed the spread of disease in the population.
Photo: David Witting/NOAA
Photo: David Witting/NOAA
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