Biologist Nancy Caruso Helps to Restore Abalone in Laguna Beach

After years reviving local kelp beds with seedlings nurtured by students, marine biologist Nancy Caruso is attempting underwater farming with a different species: she’s intent on reintroducing the nearly wiped out green abalone to the rock reefs off Laguna Beach.

After west coast abalone stocks collapsed in recent decades, the species became a rallying cry for marine conservationists. Commercial and recreational harvesting of the mollusk was banned in 1996. Now, Caruso’s one-woman crusade will rely on aquaculture to regenerate what some researchers deem a local marine ecosystem in decline.

See here for more: http://www.lagunabeachindependent.com/news/2010-04-09/Front_Page/Sea_Forester_Plants_a_Rare_Species.html