OLYMPIA — The state Department of Fish and Wildlife has declared the pinto abalone an endangered species and is working with federal and state partners to protect and conserve the large sea snail, the state said.
The pinto abalone — the only abalone species native to Washington — has experienced a drastic reduction in population in recent decades, according to the state Department of Fish and Wildlife.
From 1992 to 2017, the population fell by an estimated 97 percent, putting the species — prized as food and for its contrasting red and green shell with an iridescent interior — at risk of local extinction.
Overfishing began in 1960s.
Although the fishery was closed in 1994, poaching and the abalone’s distinctive reproductive cycle meant a cycle of continuing declines despite action, the state said.
“Males and females spawn directly into the water, and without sufficient population density, fertilization does not occur, and the animals fail to reproduce,” said Hank Carson, state research scientist.
Now the pinto abalone recovery effort has been expanded at conservation hatchery facilities at the Kenneth K. Chew Center for Shellfish Research and Restoration in Kitsap County (www.nwfsc. noaa.gov/news/features/hatchery).
“Our abalone captive-breeding and reintroduction program is a promising recovery strategy, but much work remains to achieve self-sustaining populations in the state,” Carson said.
Next steps include writing a formal recovery plan to reduce threats and build the species population, establishing additional satellite growing facilities to increase production, a conservation genetics and disease-risk assessment, and expansion of field work to determine the best places to out-plant these rare and distinctive creatures.
The 2019 state Legislature allocated $900,000 for work through June 2021.
