ESA Permit Renewal for Black Abalone Captive Research

NOAA Fisheries is requesting public comment on a permit renewal application. The application may be viewed online on our Authorizations and Permits for Protected Species (APPS) webpage. Please submit written comments by email to nmfs.wcr-apps@noaa.gov and include the permit number (19571-2R) in the subject line of the email.

NOAA Fisheries’ Southwest Fisheries Science Center has requested to renew a research permit to hold, breed, and conduct lab studies on captive black abalone for an additional five years. 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 would allow 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 outplanting efforts to restore populations.