White Abalone: Left Behind
By Erika Pietrzak, June 4, 2024
The decline in white abalone for California’s natives “represents both the depletion of a vital food source and the painful loss of ancient cultural traditions.”
Background
Once abundant in southern California waters, white abalone have experienced a 99 percent population decline since the 1970s. Overfishing due to the high restaurant demand for the invertebrate led to this decline. Yet, even before white abalone became a staple of California’s restaurants, the species was already considered quite rare to encounter. Previously in the millions, the white abalone population currently stands at between 1,500 and 2,500 individuals in the wild. If this species is left unprotected in Southern California, its population will decline by about 10 percent per year. The preservation of the white abalone is necessary for the survival of crucial indigenous heritage and the future success of California’s marine life.
In Indigenous Context
White abalone are as important to California’s coastal tribes as bison are to the tribes of the Great Plains. In fact, the Pomo people considered abalone the first ocean creature. Abalone has played a major role in daily life and ceremonies since time immemorial for more than 20 tribes, and has been called “the most visible object of cultural identity” for many California tribes. One Chumash weaver and educator stated that “[m]en, women, and children wear abalone with pride, and the subtle differences in style can tell you which tribe a person is from.” Shells of abalone were often used for burial rituals, rainmaking ceremonies, and jewelry. Some coastal tribes also “crafted abalone shells into durable, nearly circular fishhooks that greatly enhanced their deep-sea fishing capabilities.”
The decline in white abalone for California’s natives “represents both the depletion of a vital food source and the painful loss of ancient cultural traditions.” White abalone, and other kinds of abalone, have been found as far east as the Mississippi River from indigenous trade. Abalone is pivotal to indigenous culture, and the prevention of harvesting established in 1997 is inhibiting indigenous people from accessing it:
“... if we do not hunt and we do not gather, our relations will disappear. And our skills will disappear. I have cousins in their 30s who have never seen or touched a live abalone in the water; do not know how they like to live; and do not know our fishing ways.”
White abalone and other kinds of abalone are featured extensively in many tribal stories. During the Making-the-Path-of-Life-Beautiful, the Maiden ceremony, the unnamed woman of these stories was dressed in white shell shoes. She grew older without a name and then as she changed from youth to aged, she grew younger again, going back and forth four times until she remained about 20 years old. Her name became White Shell Woman. Since she could change between ages, she was also called Changing Woman. After her time with her tribe, she met the sun, who asked her to go out West. She agreed on the condition that the sun build her a house with a white shell and bring her family. The sun followed her on her journey out west and set to check on her. Her house includes white shells spread across the floor and her footprints show in the shells. On her shore, white shells and abalone wash up for food to give her strength and make all known to her. Many tribes see the White Shell Woman/Changing Woman as the following:
“She is the source of life, the giver of sustenance and destiny to all beings. As the Earth goes through seasonal changes - from the growth of spring and summer to the dying of fall and the coming of winter - so Changing Woman can attain old age, die, and be reborn. She is the symbol of the Female Rains and the presence behind the beauty of lakes, rivers, and mountains. In the beginning, Changing Woman was found as a baby by First Man; she was reared by First Man and First Woman. She matured quickly, and at the time of her first menstruation, a puberty rite was held to which all creatures came. Each creature offered groups of songs to bring Earth Surface People into being and to enable Changing Woman to create this new race and give them the power of regeneration. This is the rite that is still held for Navajo girls entering puberty.”
White Abalone Scale
White abalone are an integral part of California culture and marine life. These animals are slow-moving bottom dwellers that attach to rocks and other hard objects. They use their feet to move across the ocean floor and rocks, mainly feeding on kelp. These sedentary creatures look like rocks and develop algae on their shell, making them hard to spot. White abalone can live between 35 and 40 years and reach sexual maturity between four and five years of age.
In commercial harvesting of white abalone, almost 90 percent of those harvested were caught from San Clemente Island and its offshore banks. The limited habitat of the white abalone benefits this broadcast spawner as a small, but dense area allows for more fertilization. Currently, low density is listed as the number one threat to white abalone. As broadcast spawners, “fertilization succeeds more often when groups of adult male and female abalone are close to each other when they spawn.” As mentioned earlier, white abalone must be within a few meters to successfully reproduce. As a result of commercial fishing pressures, white abalone population densities are “so low that remaining individuals are too scattered to successfully reproduce,” with the last successful documented reproduction of white abalone in the wild taking place in 1996. In their larval state, white abalone travel up to 50 meters away from their birthplace. Today, population density is about one per hectare, about one ten-thousandth of their previous density, making it impossible for successful wild breeding.
Small habitat size also increases the likelihood of disease, as scientists saw in black abalone. One such disease, withering foot syndrome, “causes digestive issues that lead to wasting and weakness, then death.” Withering foot syndrome has not been found in wild white abalone yet, but is present in their geographic locations and has proven to be extremely deadly to captive white abalone. In fact, withering foot syndrome almost completely wiped out the entire captive population at UC Davis’ husbandry program.
Furthermore, as a filter-feeding organism, white abalone help to clean the ocean waters, benefiting the entire ecosystem and those using the waters. White abalone also help regulate the kelp forest ecosystem, one of the most diverse and productive ecosystems in the world. This leads to benefits outside of the immediate area and combats ocean pollution around the world as the ocean is an interconnected system.
However, white abalone populations face other threats within their space in the form of other animals. Sea otters, for example, love to eat white abalone. As sea otter populations rise from conservation efforts, white abalone are at risk of being wiped out by the furry, more popularly adored creatures. Similarly, as marine heat waves decrease sea stars, purple urchin populations are skyrocketing. These urchins then devour kelp forests, the main food source for white abalone. Urchins also bore large holes into ocean rocks, decreasing the amount of rock available for white abalone habitats.
Physical space is also important on an international scale. Beyond the physical inhabitants of California tribes, many other stakeholder groups across the world interact with white abalone. California is not seen as a mass producer of white abalone, but Asia is. Currently, Australia and Asia have been leading white abalone captivity and farming, which could provide valuable information for California farms and the eventual maintenance of wild populations. The California government can thus utilize practices in Australia and Asia for the sustainable use of white abalone and can look to these countries for aid in decisions.
Future Outlook
In order for white abalone to recover, a collaborative, inclusive, full-force operation must be taken in California. Using different forms of media and including all stakeholders, a holistic approach can be taken to achieve long-lasting recovery in southern California. Collectively working together, California and its people can save this cherished animal through science, education, outreach, and funding. This can only be done by overcoming power imbalances, collective action problems, and market incentives. The vast scale of this issue includes several different stakeholders with long histories and significant connections to white abalone, which must be recognized in any efforts moving forward. Through collective efforts from all stakeholders, the white abalone has a chance of recovery.
Change The Chamber is a nonpartisan coalition of over 100 student groups, including undergraduates, graduate students and recent graduates.