Oh ab-solutly!! I did realize that you weren't implying the cull of the sea otter, Please excuse me if I my wording was to
that effect. I definitely agree with your statement about over-fishing.  As a child we (the family unit) would travel to
Morro Bay to stand and look at a big rock the whole time standing on a pile of abalone shells 20 ft think and 50 ft long ,
most were rather fresh , that's an incredible burden for one slow growing species to maintain.
So where do we go from here; the words said,  the idea in mind , the heart in the right place, maybe everyone could do just
one thing , one small seemingly insignificant act like , pick up a piece of trash even though you didn't drop it ,dry the
clothes on the line instead of running the dryer(except the sheets and underthings , they need softener)   recycle your
shotgun shells and beer cans Or how about buy you neighbor a new car so he stops driving that 78 Buick that leaks five quarts
of tranny fluid just to get out of the driveway (don't worry , he won't be offended, tell him you need the buick for the
Saturday night demolition derby at the old raceway).
In all reality there is a good chance that each one of use can do something small that could lead to other's doing something
small and before you know it all the small things add up !!
Cheers to all , everyone have a splendid evening, ferreter oh and for the countless conchs at Cape eluthera , the high beach
there is littered with what must be 10,000- 30,000 dead , empty conch shells , not from the humans , Floyd got them , they
are all at about the same point of decay .... nature takes her share too .
-----Original Message-----
From: Bobbi Cordy <[log in to unmask]>
To: [log in to unmask] <[log in to unmask]>
Date: Saturday, April 22, 2000 6:14 PM
Subject: Re: Abalone (don't blame the otters)


|Just want to clarify that I did not say get rid of the SEA Otters....just take the protection ban off of them.   When
something
|is protected - it always upsets the food chain mess.
|
|I grew up and was raised in the Bay Area and lived in California for 40 yrs.....so I personally saw the area where the Sea
Otters
|live and ate lots and lots of abalone.  We could see the empty shells in the area where they live.   AND the otters were
|definitely multiplying faster than the abalone.
|
|Yes we also saw the abalone overfished - by commercial abalone divers...not the sports diver.  A sports diver could only
take 5
|abs when we were in CA .... but the commercial ab diver could take as many as his boat could hold.
|
|But after Paul Kanner's remark it looks like pollution has caused this disease problem in the abs.    AND there is
definitely
|plenty of pollution in California.
|
|This is always an interesting subject for sure.   Last time we were in Eleuthera at Cape Eleuthera we literally tossed
hundreds
|of Strombus gigas back into the water at low tide.
|They were all over the rocks to the right of the boat ramp.  AND I have to say that Strombus gigas is definitely over-fished
in
|the Bahamas and it doesn't seem to make much difference with them.    Those Bahamians eat those strombs every day.
|
|Bobbi
|
|peta bethke wrote:
|
|> I agree 99% with your statement Jim/Bobbie with the exception to the sea otters, they eat urchins, abalone, clams, crabs
and
|> anything else they can crack open with a stone(basically in that order).
|> I once overheard a "person" at a shell show saying that the decline of the abalone was due to sea otters and that they
should
|> be culled. Well the decline of the abalone is due to over-fishing  first , pollution second and disease third , all cause
by
|> humans , maybe we should cull the humans . This would also cure the problem with the dwindling resources of fishes ,
tigers,
|> elephants, desert pupfish and the El segundo blue butterflies (sorry too late , extinct). so what is the solution? how
about
|> the state stepping up to the plate and engage it's resources into aquaculture of abalone? let's leave the sea otter alone
and
|> invest into better waste water treatment. Let's cull those who pour motor oil into the storm drain. Try and stop the
endless
|> tide nuclear waste the FRENCH dump into the north Atlantic (well they do{mostly because the vast majority of their
|> electricity comes from nuclear [real cheap power once you have a place to put the waste]})!!!! so many places to put
blame,
|> so few to actually take blame..... oh and this is not in anyway a comment directed at anyone say the French who really
need
|> to stop dumping that plutonium 238 , it's real nasty breeder reactor excrement, I'm rather surprised Bob Ballard doesn't
glow
|> in the dark after he spent so much time on the bottom of the Atlantic in them submersibles. ferret
|>
|>  -----Original Message-----
|> From: Bobbi Cordy <[log in to unmask]>
|> To: [log in to unmask] <[log in to unmask]>
|> Date: Saturday, April 22, 2000 12:30 PM
|> Subject: Abalone
|>
|> |Hi all:
|> |
|> |We dove for abalone for years while we were in Caifornia.  Always taking
|> |only the limit size, and obeying the laws.    Some of the best eating
|> |there is...I knew all the Abalone recipes.
|> |
|> |We also watched the commercial abalone divers come in off Santa Barbara
|> |with their boats just piled high with abalone.  It doe stake about 5-7
|> |years for an abalone to mature to a good size.
|> |
|> |One law that was put into affect was protecting the Sea Otter.  The Sea
|> |Otter lives in abalone.   The Sea Otter population now is immense....and
|> |guess what they are thriving on?    AND it takes a "miracle" to get the
|> |protection law taken off of anything!
|> |
|> |Pollution definitely is a BIG part of the abalone situation.  AND I am
|> |sure it is the problem with Strombus gigas also.
|> |
|> |In the Bahamas (where we collect 5-6 times a year)  there is STILL
|> |Strombus gigas absolutely everywhere...and the Bahamians bring in boat
|> |loads of them every day and have done so for centuries.    The Bahamians
|> |also do not use a lot of chemicals....they don't renourish their
|> |beaches....everything is left natural (as God intended) even with the
|> |Hurricanes, storms, etc.
|> |
|> |Just had to get my TWO-CENTS in!
|> |
|> |Bobbi Cordy
|> |Merritt Island FL
|> |Astronaut Trail Shell Club
|> |
|