Abalone hatchery efforts in Southern California were not economically feasible. Caring for young abalone is expensive and abalone released from hatcheries had very poor survival rates. Some studies indicated that hatchery-reared abalone did not develop behaviors needed to avoid predators. Abalone from hatcheries can also pose a danger by spreading diseases or parasites. Abalone hatcheries are carefully regulated to eliminate infestations of several known diseases (including Withering Syndrome) and parasites. Out-planting hatchery-reared abalone to enhance abalone stocks is more conducive for recovering severely depleted wild abalone populations to prevent species extinction. The federal and California recovery programs for the endangered white abalone are currently using this technique to save the species from extinction.