From Washington To You

From Washington to you

Pinto Abalone

Freshwater Bay · Clallam County · first experimental releases 2007

A kelp-forest snail Washington listed as endangered in 2019, now the subject of a WDFW–UW hatchery partnership that has put tens of thousands of juveniles back in the water.

WDFW’s 2025 periodic status review says pinto abalone was listed as endangered in Washington in 2019. The 2019 review blamed low density plus threats that still stood in 2024: kelp-forest loss, disease, changing ocean conditions, illegal harvest, predation, and oil-spill risk. In 2002 WDFW, the University of Washington, the Puget Sound Restoration Fund, and NOAA formed a restoration partnership. The first experimental releases were in 2007.

Those first trial outplants were at Freshwater Bay. Restoration-scale releases in the San Juan Islands began in 2009. From 2009 through 2024 the partnership released more than 60,000 disease-free, genetically diverse juveniles at 37 sites. WDFW issued a state recovery plan in 2022. The 2025 review still recommended endangered status because wild recovery criteria have not been met.

This pin is Freshwater Bay, the first experimental release site. The sources below are Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife pages.

  • Wildlife & Ecology
  • Science / Strange Washington

Sources (2)

Last reviewed: September 21, 2026

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Pinto Abalone · From Washington To You