They organized a group to pick out as many purples as they could with a 20 gallon limit. They were summarily crushed with a tamper in the buckets and used for fertilizer.According to DFG biologists, these abalone deaths coincided with a local red tide bloom (or phytoplankton bloom) and calm ocean conditions. Although the exact reasons for the abalone deaths are not known, invertebrate die-offs have occurred in the past along the northern California coast when similar weather and bloom conditions existed. The August red tide, a natural occurrence caused by an upswell of nutrient-rich cold water, is said to have been the worst in three decades. One diver reports seeing “hundreds and hundreds of out-of-the shell abalone out on the rocks,” unlike anything he’d ever seen.
I like the reds so no biggie.