California’s abalone populations are currently reduced to a level that cannot support either a commercial or recreational fishery – the fishery will remain closed until at least 2026. If you would like to learn more about this decline, please read this blog post from 2016. The blog post has a great timeline of events that led us to where we are today. 

The poor condition of red abalone populations led the California Fish and Game Commission to close the fishery in 2018. CDFW surveys in 2018 found lower densities of abalone and numerous fresh empty shells which indicated a continued high death rate. The Commission extended the closure until 2021 at their December 2018 meeting. Subsequent surveys found red abalone populations in poor condition and the closure was extended to 2026 at the December, 2020 Commission meeting.

In November 2022, the California Fish and Game Commission directed CDFW to transition from developing a fishery management plan for red abalone to a species recovery plan. This change was made in response to the rapid decline of the red abalone population and subsequent closure of the recreational fishery. The goal of the Red Abalone Recovery Plan is to develop a robust, adaptive, climate ready strategy to support the recovery of the red abalone population to sustainable levels.