Jack Likins and Roger Rude went diving three days in a row recently. Conditions have been quite good. Roger scored two ten-inch abalones and speared a 36 inch Ling Cod, and Jack found the biggest abalone of all.

Jack's abalone is 10 7/16 inches. I like how he's posed with Naked Ladies, a non-native flower that we love.

Jack reported on the health of abalones and the kelp situation:

"The great news is that there are still plenty of large Abalones out there, even though we haven’t had much kelp due to the warm water. Kelp is abalones’ main food source.

“The bad news is that there is a purple Sea Urchin explosion. They are all over everything, including the abalones. According to CDFW there are 60 times more urchins this year than normal. Urchins compete with abalones for food. Only time will tell what affect this will have on the ocean environment and the abalones."

 

Thanks to Jack for this information and thanks to Roger for allowing me to share his photo of Jack.