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

An Orange County scientist who spent years growing kelp forests offshore is firing up volunteers for her newest project: breeding green abalone in local schools, then releasing them into the wild.
Nancy Caruso, a marine biologist and head of the “Get Inspired!” non-profit organization, caught three good-sized abalone off Laguna Beach Saturday with help from her dive team. She kept the abalone in tanks overnight to get fecal samples, and returned them to their offshore hideout the next day.

http://greenoc.freedomblogging.com/2010/03/30/scientist-captures-elusive-abalone-off-o-c/21727/