<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01 Transitional//EN">
<html>
<head>
<meta content="text/html;charset=ISO-8859-1" http-equiv="Content-Type">
</head>
<body bgcolor="#ffffff" text="#000000">
If you attend this From Shore to Sea lecture, please include it on your
CINC timesheet.<br>
<meta content="text/html;charset=ISO-8859-1" http-equiv="Content-Type">
<blockquote type="cite">
<p class="MsoHeader"><span
style="font-size: 10.5pt; font-family: NPSRawlinsonOT; color: black;">May
2, 2008<o:p></o:p><br>
For Immediate Release<o:p></o:p><br>
Yvonne Menard, Channel Islands National Park (805) 658-5725<o:p></o:p><br>
Shauna Bingham, Channel Islands National Marine Sanctuary (805)
382-6149 ext.102<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span
style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: NPSRawlinsonOT; color: black;"><!--[if !supportEmptyParas]--><!--[endif]-->Black
Abalone on the Channel Islands
Teeter Towards Extinction <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 15pt;"><span
style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: NPSRawlinsonOT;"><!--[if !supportEmptyParas]--><!--[endif]-->During</span><span
style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: NPSRawlinsonOT;">
the May “From Shore to<i style=""> </i>Sea” lecture</span><span
style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: NPSRawlinsonOT;">
Channel Islands National Park marine biologist Dan Richards</span><span
style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: NPSRawlinsonOT;"> </span><span
style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: NPSRawlinsonOT;">will
discuss his research of the black abalone—a species that was once among
the
most abundant shellfish along the California coastline and today is
struggling
to survive. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 15pt;"><span
style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: NPSRawlinsonOT;"><!--[if !supportEmptyParas]--><!--[endif]-->Black
abalone once
dominated the rocky intertidal zone where the surf meets the shoreline.
In his
presentation Richards will describe how the once productive abalone
fishery,
with densities of 100 abalone per meter, declined as commercial
harvests
dropped 95% on the northern Channel Islands between 1972 and 1992. By
1993 the
entire California black abalone fishery was closed. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 15pt;"><span
style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: NPSRawlinsonOT;"><!--[if !supportEmptyParas]--><!--[endif]--><o:p></o:p>Richard’s
research
identified mass mortalities of black abalone that began to occur in
1986,
eventually resulting in over a 99% decline of this valuable mollusk.
Richards
will explain how data he collected as part of the park’s intertidal
monitoring
program revealed the average number of black abalone had declined to
only 0.09
abalone per meter by 1998 with nearly all of the survivors concentrated
at San
Miguel Island. In 2007 the National Marine Fisheries Service was
petitioned to
list black abalone under the federal Endangered Species Act. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 15pt;"><span
style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: NPSRawlinsonOT;"><span style=""></span>Richards
manages the marine
monitoring program for the National Park Service at Channel Islands
National
Park. He earned degrees in marine biology from the University of
California at
Santa Barbara and Humboldt State University. He served as a member of
the
science panel for the Channel Islands marine reserve process and most
recently
worked on the multi-agency Status Review Team for black abalone to
evaluate its
current status.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 15pt;"><span
style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: NPSRawlinsonOT;"><!--[if !supportEmptyParas]--><!--[endif]-->The
“From Shore to Sea” lecture series is jointly sponsored by Channel
Islands
National Park and Channel Islands National Marine Sanctuary with
generous
support from Santa Barbara Maritime Museum. The purpose of the series
is to
further the understanding of research on the Channel Islands and
surrounding
waters. The lectures will occur at 7:00 p.m. on Tuesday, May 13, 2008,
at Santa
Barbara Maritime Museum, 113 Harbor Way in the Santa Barbara Harbor and
Wednesday, May 14, 2008, at the Channel Islands National Park Robert J.
Lagomarsino Visitor Center, 1901 Spinnaker Drive in the Ventura Harbor.
The
programs are free and open to the public.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 15pt;"><span style="">This
publication is available on line at: <a
href="http://www.nps.gov/chis/parknews/newsreleases.htm"><span
style="font-size: 10.5pt; font-family: NPSRawlinsonOT;">www.nps.gov/chis/parknews/newsreleases.htm</span></a><o:p></o:p></span></p>
</blockquote>
</body>
</html>