California’s seven abalone species have all experienced population declines in recent decades due to a variety of stressors, including overharvesting, climate change, and more. Two species are now listed as federally endangered, and three more are species of concern. The mollusks are just barely hanging on. But ecologists and conservationists are not giving up. Up and down the coast, researchers are learning as much as they can about these animals, and doing what they can to bring their numbers back up.
Terra Verde host and Earth Island Journal Managing Editor Zoe Loftus-Farren talks with Laura Rogers-Bennett, a senior environmental scientist with the California Department of Fish and Wildlife and a research scientist with the UC Davis Coastal Marine Science Institute, and Benjamin Neal, assistant professor of environmental studies at Colby College.