Post-Blob, California’s kelp crisis isn’t going away

Mongabay – FORT BRAGG, U.S. — In 2024, I was scuba diving in Northern California’s Casper Cove where the Watermen’s Alliance, a group of ex-abalone sports divers, has been culling purple urchins since 2020. It had been six years since abalone season shut down, following the region’s kelp forest collapse. About 4 meters (13 feet)… Continue reading Post-Blob, California’s kelp crisis isn’t going away

Can the Long-Lost Abalone Make a Comeback in California?

LA Times: Hunched over a tank inside the Bodega Marine Laboratory, alongside bubbling vats of seaweed and greenhouses filled with algae, Kristin Aquilino coaxed a baby white abalone onto her hand. …To the untrained eye, they appear pretty drab. But in this humming lab, home to more white abalone than in the wild, these invertebrates… Continue reading Can the Long-Lost Abalone Make a Comeback in California?