Part of our current problem is that we know so little about the natural
condition of California. Even the grasslands are, for the most part,
cloaked by introduced species, and the same can be said of the great
estuary of San Francisco Bay. We really don't know much about the natural
balance of otter and abalone. It's a powerful argument for the government
to fund projects to inventory the current floras and faunas of all sorts of
environments, so we can have a better chance of restoring them someday.

As to abalone -- We do know that people like to eat abalone and that the
decline in abalone has also occurred in places where the sea otter has not
lived for a century. Millions of Californians have eaten abalone, but there
are not millions of sea otters, and no sea otter collects more abalone than
an individual can eat. Draw your own conclusions.

Andrew K. Rindsberg
Geological Survey of Alabama