Chatting with workers at the Bay St. Trader Joe’s, and all the buzz was about how Bob’s Sushi across the street was in a huge smackdown with the Fish & Game folks. I guess they had been selling abalone illegally. CBS is covering it, probably for today’s news.

My understanding was that “sport fished” abalone was OK to sell, but not commercially fished, because commercially fishing abalone is really regulated. I guess places like this import from Mexico. Neighbor is an abalone specialist, hopefully he will chime in soon with a comment on the capture of Bob. I think of abalone diving as a classic southern Californian activity, like sitting on the beach reading Austen classics or long octopus barbecue evenings. TJ worker who was serving samples told me she had been diving for abalone in Novato, which surprised me becuase besides Bodega Bay, didn’t think we had any waters that were good for fishing/diving.

Speaking of fishing, if I had a dollar for every family I’ve seen tossing crab cages off Aquatic Park pier…

from UC Davis:

The red, pink and green abalone comprise most of the commercial take, but all California abalone species are in serious decline. Both commercial and sports fishing are regulated by specific size limits for each species of abalone, and a bag limit for each category of harvest. The black abalone fishery was closed in 1993 because of mortalities caused by Withering Syndrome, a disease that affects the abalone’s foot.