Pinto Abalone Recovery


Gorgeous pinto abalone are tagged for easier identification before outplanting (photo Josh Bouma)

Pinto abalone are currently considered functionally extinct in Washington waters.  There are too few left in the wild to reproduce successfully and we have reached the point where recovery is not possible without human intervention.  It is still possible for us to keep an iconic species from blinking out – on our watch.    Our goal:  rebuild the Salish Sea’s only native abalone population – the mighty Haliotis kamtschatkana – so that, once again, pinto abalone can graze our subtidal waters and successfully reproduce in the wild.

In 2011, partners are poised to conduct the largest abalone release effort to date.  A cross-disciplinary team has been working for over eight years to develop hatchery systems, improve spawning techniques, and ensure genetic fitness in order to safely produce juvenile abalone for re-introduction to the San Juan Islands.  Raising abalone that are big enough and resilient enough to survive in the wild takes an additional 1.5 – 2 years of rearing, feeding and careful husbandry.  The 2011 outplant is the culmination of this endeavor.  


Construction of the pinto abalone nursery

You can see abalone LIVE at the Seattle Aquarium and the Port Townsend Marine Science Center.

Canadian abalone populations are similarly threatened and are listed as federally endangered. To learn more about our northern neighbors’ efforts to combat abalone declines, visit the Department of Fish and Oceans website.

UPDATE, DECEMBER 6, 2012: The PSRF dive team just outplanted 400,000 larval abalone in the San Juan Islands on Friday on DNR Aquatic Reserve lands. The project was funded by the Department of Natural Resources. Partners included WDFW, NOAA, UW, and Shannon Point Marine Center.


Pinto Abalone Recovery
Puget Sound Restoration Fund

Puget Sound is full of many treasures, and the native abalone is among them.  At a small abalone nursery in Port Gamble baby abalone are being grown for re-introduction into the big, wild world. In August 2009, nearly 1,200 animals reared in this facility were outplanted into Puget Sound, representing the most substantial abalone recovery effort to date in Washington. Pinto abalone - the only abalone species found in Washington - may be at risk of becoming locally extinct.  The natural population has plummeted over the last several decades and there are too few abalone in the wild to successfully reproduce.  The goal of this multi-faceted abalone recovery program is to increase densities in the wild and build sustainable populations of this important species for the future.  This 30-minute film showcases different aspects of recovering abalone populations in Washington State from spawning adult brood animals, to tending juveniles during months of grow-out, to careful reintroduction into the wild. It's a big undertaking involving conservation genetics, state-of-the-art hatchery rearing techniques and lots of collaboration between scientists, resource managers, Tribes and community groups.

Abalone Restoration - Outplanting in March, 2011
Puget Sound Restoration Fund

Pinto abalone is a "species of concern" on the Pacific coast, and efforts are underway to help restore the population. This video shows that latest outplanting effort in March 2011, during which over 2000 abalone were released into Puget Sound.

Photos