To: Ken Adams who wrote (172361 ) 1/5/2009 3:15:31 PM From: SmoothSail Read Replies (1) | Respond to of 225578 Don't know about restrictions on where they can be sold. This from Wiki: Sport harvesting of red abalone is permitted with a California fishing license and an abalone stamp card. New in 2008, the abalone card also comes with a set of 24 tags. Legal-size abalone must be tagged immediately. Abalone may only be taken using breath-hold techniques or shorepicking; scuba diving for abalone is strictly prohibited. Taking of abalone is not permitted south of the mouth of the San Francisco Bay. There is a size minimum of seven inches measured across the shell and a quantity limit of three per day and 24 per year. A person may be in possession of only three abalone at any given time. Abalone may only be taken from April to November, not including July. Transportation of abalone may only legally occur while the abalone is still attached in the shell. Sale of sport-obtained abalone is illegal, including the shell. Only red abalone may be taken; black, white, pink, and flat abalone are protected by law. An abalone diver is normally equipped with a thick wetsuit, including a hood, booties, and gloves, and usually also a mask, snorkel, weight belt, abalone iron, and abalone gauge. Alternatively, the rock picker can feel underneath rocks at low tides for abalone. Abalone are mostly taken in depths from a few inches up to 10 m (33 ft); less common are freedivers who can work deeper than 10 m (33 ft). Abalone are normally found on rocks near food sources (kelp). An abalone iron is used to pry the abalone from the rock before it can fully clamp down. Divers commonly dive out of boats, kayaks, tube floats or directly off the shore. An eight-inch abalone is considered a good catch, a nine-inch abalone extremely good, and a ten-inch or larger abalone a trophy catch. There has been a trade in diving to catch abalones off parts of the United States coast from before 1939. In World War II, many of these abalone divers were recruited into the United States armed forces and trained as frogmen. The largest abalone recorded in California is 12.34 inches, caught by John Pepper somewhere off the coast of Humboldt county.en.wikipedia.org