An Alaska abalone working group has been established by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Fisheries and Alaska Sea Grant, bringing together stakeholders from the federal, state and Tribal governments.
The working group's initiatives include asking the public for opinions on the best ways to recover and sustain the species, according to a July 15 NOAA Fisheries release. To learn more about the public's interests and perspectives on the value and potential of abalone, including farming, Alaska Sea Grant has launched an open poll.
“My goal in doing these community outreach trips and events is to engage with communities to determine what abalone recovery and sustainability strategies they are most interested in seeing in their community,” Alaska Sea Grant Fellow Ashley Bolwerk said in the release. “This information can then be used by the abalone working group that I have been facilitating to create goals and objectives.”
The pinto abalone is the only abalone species found in Alaska, which is the most northern kind of abalone found on the west coast of North America, the release reported. Abalone meat is prized in many cultures.
Southeast Alaska once had a commercial abalone fishery, but it was shut down in 1996 by the state of Alaska due to sharp drops in harvest, according to the release. Today, personal use and subsistence fisheries are still used for legal harvest, with limitations such as a daily bag limit of five.
Bolwerk has been in charge of the community involvement effort as part of her fellowship with NOAA Fisheries through the Alaska Sea Grant, according to the release. More than 100 K–12 children in the Hoonah region have received marine science instruction from Bolwerk. She has educated the pupils about several marine animals as well as the past and present of the pinto abalone.
She has also connected with partners from the tribe and other members of the community as part of the working group's goal of talking about prospective population plans, the release said.
