ESA Permit Renewal for Black Abalone Captive Research

NOAA Fisheries has renewed a scientific research and enhancement permit (Permit 19571-2R) to the Southwest Fisheries Science Center under the Endangered Species Act, to continue ongoing captive holding, breeding, and laboratory studies on captive black abalone for an additional five years. NOAA Fisheries requested public comment on the permit renewal application in February 2021 and received one public comment.

Under the previous permit, researchers maintained healthy populations of black abalone in captive facilities throughout California and evaluated broodstock conditioning and spawning methods. This permit renewal allows researchers to maintain captive black abalone populations and continue captive breeding studies for an additional five years. The main purpose of the research is to support recovery efforts by developing reliable spawning methods to consistently produce high quality juvenile black abalone. These abalone may be used for research as well as future population restoration efforts.