Abalone

Red abalone mothers from California’s North Coast give their offspring an energy boost when they’re born that helps them better withstand ocean acidification compared to their captive, farmed counterparts, according to a study from the Bodega Marine Laboratory at the University of California, Davis.

The “sequoias of the sea” suck up carbon and shelter special species. They’ve been hit hard, but scientists, surfers, and more are banding together to save them.

Read more in National Geographic

By Malina Loeher

“Oh, because of Fukushima…” When beachgoers see my abalone shirt and ask about my conservation work, this is the misconception frequently returned to me in northern California. Coastal residents have been harvesting red abalone for hundreds of years, but recent population decline and closure of the last recreational fishery have brought abalone into the public’s eye.

Often I hear, “it’s because of the urchins!” or “climate change, am I right?”

Evan Tjeerdema spent the summer at Bodega Marine Laboratory, participating in both of the facility’s summer sessions. While there, he took classes like environmental toxicology and conducted two research projects: He studied the effects of environmental toxins on crab lavae and on predator-prey interactions using red abalone and starfish.

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The giant sea snails, which eat seaweed and kelp, have been left with little to eat after the North Coast's kelp forests collapsed during the past three years. Now, hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of abalone are dead or starving. 

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