Abalone: The Remarkable History and Uncertain Future of California's Iconic Shellfish

Prized for their iridescent shells and delectable meat, abalone have long held a cherished place in California culture. Revered by indigenous Americans, these highly coveted shellfish became iconic of twentieth century beach scenes, inspiring bohemian writers, California cuisine, and the popular sport of skin diving. They also sparked the earliest calls for conservation on the West Coast and provoked fierce conflicts between recreational and commercial divers. Mistakenly regarded as an inexhaustible food source, abalone became vulnerable to overfishing and then to early impacts of climate change.

As the first and only comprehensive history of these once-abundant but now tragically imperiled shellfish, Abalone guides the reader through eras of discovery, exploitation, scientific inquiry, near-extinction, and determined recovery efforts. Combining coastal California's rich cultural and culinary history with hard-minded science, grassroots activism, and analysis of the politics that will determine abalone's fate, Ann Vileisis chronicles the critical work of marine scientists and citizens working together to build a new ethic of conservation based on ecological restoration.

Abalone reveals the challenges of reckoning with misunderstandings of the past, political intransigence, and ecological transformation, while underscoring the vulnerability of wild animals to human appetites and environmental change. An important contribution to the emerging field of marine environmental history, this is a must-read for scientists, conservationists, environmental historians, and all who remember abalone fondly.