It was Cute Abalone Day when I travelled to Bodega Bay in January to finally visit the facility that is rearing white abalone. Lead scientist Kristin Aquilino , PhD was kind enough to conduct a tour of her facility. Long white plastic trays hold thousands of juvenile white abalones of various ages from 6 years of rearing. They are chowing down on giant brown kelp and are bathed in continuous fresh salt water from the ocean. Not a bad life! They are but a start of the program which will be ramped up to produce and release 100,000's of juveniles a year, a goal that is deemed totally reachable. A next step would be to secure a private sector site where this could happen. Once the critical density of abalone is reached they will be able to find one another and produce a sustainable wild population again.
One of the Mama abalones.
White Abalones apparently spawn once a year, and it is still a mystery what exactly triggers it. Water temp? length of sunlight? The next spawning event at the facility starts on March 10th, which I plan to attend - more info on spawning methods then!
Social media has become such a huge factor in getting one's message out to the masses, and Kristin has hopped on the wagon with a presence on Tik Tok videos, aided by her young daughter. DON'T MISS THESE! go to: https://www.tiktok.com/@whiteabalone? for a whole lot of fun!
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