I went abalone diving up north this weekend. Surfed the south swell, too. I'm shocked at how slim the abalone population is these days (this was my first ab dive in 15 years) - the spot we dove was picked nearly clean, and I saw lots of abs that were too small (less than 7"). Based on what I saw this weekend, I fully support aggressive marine protection of coastal waters to bring back their habitat! These tasty little critters need some private space to grow back, because diving and eating abalone is a great thing.
