Fellow Divers:

There has been a continuing erosion of the density of abalone at the Study Index Sites in Northern California. The reduction in densities is happening at all sites, even the deep water locations thought to provide a refuge at depth. The reductions in density has triggered provisions in the Abalone Recovery and Management Plan which require the DFG managers to reduce the take which is depleting the available abalone resource. The Recreational Abalone Advisory Committee (“RAAC”) and others have helped the DFG come up with a plan to accomplish the required action.

Below is a call from our Committee for input from the sport diving public on proposed regulation alternatives. We would like to hear from you and the survey is available on-line or in hard copy and your help will provide meaningful input from the public as to which of the proposed alternatives divers prefer. The survey will not take long to fill out and your responses will help manage this important sport fishery.

Steve Benavides
RAAC SoCal Representative

Greetings RAAC members,

If you recall from our last meeting we discussed the distribution of a survey to gather input from fishery constituents on proposed regulatory changes for the 2014 season. The main mode of distribution discussed was posting on the Department's website. I am happy to announce that the survey is now available on the web site for people to begin filling out. The web address is: http://www.dfg.ca.gov/marine/abalonesurvey/ .

Please let your constituents know that this survey is available and we welcome all input on the proposed regulation alternatives. Hard copies of the survey are available to print out from the web site. We will also be putting out a press release announcing the survey. We will collect survey responses until Feb. 28. Our plan is to summarize the survey information and present to the Commission in either March or April.

The regulatory package for north coast abalone fishery regulation changes for the 2014 season will be noticed in March with an informal discussion at the April meeting, formal discussion in May with adoption of regulations in June. Prior to the March FGC meeting we are planning a series of informal meetings with constituent representatives on the north coast to discuss the proposed regulation alternatives.

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