ABALONE FISHING

Wairarapa Times-Age, 24 August 1939, Page 5

ABALONE FISHING

RAINBOW-COLOURED SHELLS. From a comparatively small area off - the coast of California nearly 120 tons of rainbow-coloured shells are brought up ever year. They are worth about £lOOO a ton, and in them occasional finds of pink or grey pearls are made. The shells are those of the abalone, a bivalve or creature covered on one side by a shell that clings to rocks, kelp, and gravel at the bottom of the ocean. They are obtained by divers. Dressed in the usual heavy underwater kit, these men descend to depths of from 60ft to 100 ft. and when a col;ny of abalone is discovered they quickly turn the shellfish on their backs by means of a flat steel bar that has a chisel top at one end and a sharp point to the other. It is then an easy matter to load them in baskets to be hoisted to the surface .The work mus’ be done quickly, for if the abalone if allowed to grip the surface beneath it it cannot be removed except by breaking the shell, which, of course, would thus be made practically worthless. The kelp, or giant seaweed, is a groat danger to the abalone hunter, for it grows so luxuriantly that it forms an underwater forest through which he must force his way. Its ■■mooth stalks are often more than 100 feet in length and are as tough as leather. They are washed to and fro by the currents and constantly ihreaten to entangle the diver himself or the tube by means of which he obtains his supply of air. Usually a man stationed in the boat cuts the long streamers by means of a sharp knife blade mounted on a long pole in order to give more light to his companion below. The shell, of the abalone is dried and '•ent to manufacturing jewellers, who make rinks, necklaces, pendants, and bracelets from it. The flesh of the creature also is useful, for it is good io oat. either fresh or tinned, and the Californian fisheries produce about 3 000,0001 b annually.