Many enjoy fishing to relax or feel closer to nature. Unfortunately, some ignore the regulations put in place to ensure that fishing is a safe and sustainable activity.
As Karen Velie reported for CalCoastNews.com, five fishers were recently caught off the California coast with an illegal catch of abalone.
These sea snails were once plentiful off California's coasts, but overfishing and low reproductive rates have landed both black abalone and white abalone on the endangered species list, per the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
California Department of Fish and Wildlife officers caught the fishers with mostly black abalone and issued citations for their illegal activity.
Abalone poaching and overfishing is a global issue, as some consider abalone meat a delicacy. Beyond directly fishing for abalone, climate change caused by human pollution has also decreased global populations. Both rising ocean temperatures and ocean acidification threaten the abalone, as NOAA revealed.
There's still hope for abalone recovery. The California Department of Fish and Wildlife has instituted a White Abalone Recovery Project, which has researched how to aid abalones that suffer from deadly shell lesions.
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Conservation efforts around the world have made positive strides in protecting sea life like abalones, per the California Department of Fish and Wildlife. NOAA regulations have tried to keep animals like the endangered right whale safe, while the United Nations has created a floating rehabilitation center for loggerhead turtles.
These conservation efforts are crucial to supporting the life-forms and ecosystems of the planet. Developing technologies are making conservation efforts easier and more effective, but there is more work to be done. If you're interested in conservation, you can learn more about how to advocate for policies to protect the environment.
This time, the abalone were safe, and the comments on Velie's article showed unanimous support for protecting the species.
As one commenter said, "Respect the ecology or stay out of the water."
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