Wildlife authorities in California arrested a man who was found with over a dozen red abalone under suspicion of intent to sell.
What happened?
Officers with the California Department of Fish and Wildlife approached a group of people at Ocean Cove in Jenner, California, after they were seen putting things into containers.
Their moving lights and night activity — "the kind of lights that usually mean someone is doing more than sightseeing," the CDFW explained in a social media post, per The Press Democrat — drew the attention of wildlife officers.
The wildlife authorities questioned the group and discovered a man was in possession of 15 red abalone, a species of sea snail.
The man was arrested under suspicion of the intent to sell, which state law dictates could result in up to $40,000 in fines and up to one year in jail.
Commercial harvesting of red abalone in California has been banned since 2018 due to the species' concerning population decline, attributed to the unchecked population growth of purple sea urchins.
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The sea urchins are not invasive, but they outcompete red abalone for food, depleting bull kelp forests and leading to starvation of the red abalone species.
The red abalone is a critically endangered species on the International Union for Conservation of Nature Red List.
Why is illegal poaching concerning?
Illegal poaching, or the illegal hunting or capture of a protected wildlife species, exacerbates the conditions of already vulnerable wildlife species and their native habitats.
The red abalone is already critically endangered from the overpopulation of purple sea urchins and a weakened food chain. Sunflower sea stars, which normally prey on sea urchins, are also in decline, allowing the latter to thrive.
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Definitely 👍 Purple sea urchins have depleted California's kelp forests, leaving the red abalone species, alongside other marine life species that rely on kelp forests for food and shelter, starving.
The combination of these conditions results in an unbalanced ecosystem that accelerates population loss.
Illegally poaching red abalone pushes this already threatened wildlife species towards extinction.
What's being done about abalone poaching?
California's red abalone harvesting ban has been extended to 2036, according to KSBW News, which would support the recovery and replenishment of this wildlife species in California waters.
In addition, scientists are studying how to restore kelp forests, including transplanting kelp from healthy forests to support depleted areas, creating and nurturing new forests on rock surfaces, and managing sea urchin populations to avoid kelp forest depletion or degradation.
Volunteer divers in California spent over 15,000 hours restoring the kelp forest off the coast of Rancho Palos Verdes, which has made a remarkable comeback.
Conservationists also urge people to eat more purple sea urchins to control their population, restoring balance to the rest of the ecosystem.
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