'We see the direct benefit being the possible reseeding and restocking of the ocean with
Abalone again in a well structured joint partnership with the ministry in Oman as well as local fishermen, whose livelihood has been destroyed by the reduction in the natural
abalone resource.
Of the seven species of abalone found along the West Coast of North America (Geiger 1999), pinto abalone have the broadest latitudinal range extending from Salisbury Sound, AK, to Bahia Tortugas, Baja California, Mexico (Fig.
In the northern portion of its range, pinto abalone occurs in intertidal and subtidal habitats (0-20 m depth, most commonly 0-10 m depth; Rothaus et al.
In Alaska, pinto abalone are primarily found in rocky substrates and kelp beds in the lower intertidal and subtidal surge zones on the outer coast of southeast Alaska (Fig.
In Washington, pinto abalone occur from Little Patos Island in the northern San Juan Islands Archipelago (SJA) to just offshore of Cape Flattery in the west entrance of the Strait of Juan de Fuca (SJF) and north of a line formed by Point Wilson and the Keystone Jetty in North Puget Sound (Fig.
"Driven by sophisticated transnational criminal networks and local gangs, the illegal abalone trade has been fueled by deeply entrenched socioeconomic disparities in the Western Cape, bitterly contested fishing quotas, drugs and gang violence," the report said.
"Because of the involvement of organized crime, the apparent links to gangs in Cape Town, the links between the trade in abalone and the trade in drugs, there are also some clear negative socioeconomic impacts associated with it," said Markus Burgener of TRAFFIC in a statement.
The illegal trade extends across sub-Saharan Africa, with 43 percent of illegally harvested abalone coming from non-abalone producing and even landlocked countries exporting to Hong Kong, the report said.