Table 12. Commercial landings of abalone, lobsters, and sea urchins in 

 California, in pounds. 



From Anonymous 1958. 



From Heimann et al. 1968. 

 : From Oliphant 1979. 



Ebert pers. comm. 

 'From Cox 1962. 



The mainland coast in Los Angeles and 

 Orange Counties has recently been closed 

 to abalone fishing (Ebert pers. comm.), 

 and restoration of stocks is being 

 attempted by planting laboratory-grown 

 juveniles in the field. These restoration 

 attempts have not been very successful , 

 but new techniques are being investigated 

 (Ebert pers. comm.). Even if restoration 

 resulted in commercially harvestable 

 stocks under present environmental condi- 

 tions, restoration efforts have a dim 

 future if the sea otter population expands 

 into southern California. Sea otters can 

 reduce abalone distribution to cracks and 

 crevices where individuals are barely 

 accessible to man (Lowry and Pearse 1973). 



6.2.2.3 Sea urchins . Significant 

 commercial harvesting of red sea urchins 



( Strongylocentrotus franc iscanus ) began in 

 1970 (tegner and Dayton 1977). Animals 

 are harvested by divers, and the roe is 

 extracted and shipped mainly to Japan, 

 where it is considered a delicacy. The 

 California sea urchin fishery has since 

 expanded rapidly to become one of the 

 largest fisheries in the State, with over 

 17 million pounds landed in 1982 (Table 



12). Juvenile red sea urchins frequently 

 occur under the spines of adults in south- 

 ern California (Tegner and Dayton 1977). 

 Thus, removal of adults not only reduces 

 reproductive potential, but also affects 

 juvenile habitat, so the potential for a 

 high, sustained yield from the fishery may 

 be poor (Tegner and Dayton 1977). Wilson 

 and McPeak (1983) suggested that harvest- 

 ing red sea urchins may result in 

 increased abundances of purple and white 

 sea urchins. 



6.2.2.4 Lobster . The spiny lobster 



Panul irus interruptus is commercially 

 fished with traps in southern California. 

 Lobsters are often associated with giant 

 kelp forests, and traps are frequently set 

 along the outer and inner margins of the 

 surface canopies. This fishery has also 

 declined since the peak harvests of the 

 1950' s (Tegner 1980; Table 12), and 

 because this animal can eat sea urchins 

 (Tegner and Dayton 1981, Tegner and Levin 

 1983), Tegner (1980) suggested that local 

 lobster declines, like those of sheephead, 

 may be partly responsible for increased 

 sea urchin abundance. A similar scenario 

 leading to extensive losses of kelp beds 



112 



