October 30, 2019
ASU Center for Biodiversity Outcomes Founding Director Leah Gerber helped make strides in the recovery of the white abalone species through the White Abalone Restoration Consortium.
White abalones are sea snail herbivores. They were the first marine invertebrates added to the Endangered Species Act. Poaching, overfishing and disease have been the main threats to the species, causing them to become one of the most at-risk species in the world in 2001.
Gerber was one of the pioneers that recognized the plight of this species and started the WARC restoration program. The population declined 99 percent since the 1970s, resulting in the only option of creating an abalone breeding and restocking program. Today, they have planted over 10,000 abalones on the coast of California.
Without the WARC efforts, foresight and initiative, the white abalone may not have reached this pivotal point in its recovery,
To learn more, check out this article.
[Photo source / caption: A white abalone reaches its flexible body out its shell. ]