HOBDAY AND TEGNER: INFLUENCE OF TEMPERATURE AND FISHING ON LOCAL POPULATION DYNAMICS OF RED ABALONE CalCOFI Rep., Vol. 43, 2002 THE WARM AND THE COLD: INFLUENCE OF TEMPERATURE AND FISHING ON LOCAL POPULATION DYNAMICS OF RED ABALONE ALISTAIR J. HOBDAY MIA J. TEGNER CSIRO Marine Research Scripps Institution of Oceanography GPO Box 1538 La Jolla, California 92093-0227 Hobart, Tasmania 7000 Australia
[email protected] ABSTRACT under the federal Endangered Species Act (Hobday et We developed an individual-based, spatially explicit al. 2001). Recovery efforts for this and other abalone population-dynamics model to explore the effects of species are underway in California. temperature, fishing pressure, and reserve size on red Abalone fisheries have typically been managed by reg- abalone (Haliotis rufescens) populations at two of the north- ulating a minimum size for capture, although quotas now ern Channel Islands off the coast of California. The exist in regions where harvesting continues (e.g., model locations represent the “warm” Santa Cruz Island, Tasmania, South Africa, New Zealand). The size-limit which has a fishing history of declining abalone stocks, approach was intended to allow several years of repro- and the “cold” San Miguel Island, which has a history duction before capture was possible. This approach may of stable catches. We investigated the effects of three succeed if recruitment is frequent, but the combination temperature scenarios for 100-year periods on the be- of abalone life-history characters—specifically, long life havior of each population. In the first scenario we used span and broadcast spawning—indicate that high re- the real temperature environment (sea surface tempera- cruitment does not occur every year (Hobday et al.