Abalone hunting poses deadly risks
Since April 12, four men in Mendocino County have died in falling or drowning incidents.
The abalone season that started three weeks ago has already been deadly in Northern California. Four men searching for the mollusks have died along the rugged Mendocino coast since April 12.
In the latest incident, Joel Falcon, 52, of El Cerrito fell 75 feet while trying to climb up a steep bluff after becoming trapped by the tide near Westport. The friend with whom he had been mollusk hunting was distraught, returning to the campground where they had been staying and giving all of their abalone to campground workers, saying he would never eat it again.
“His friend fell right in front of him,” said Shelly Lopez, a camp host at Westport Beach RV Park & Campground. “He said he wanted to find a way home where he couldn’t see the ocean. He never wanted to go in the ocean again.”
It was the fourth death of an abalone hunter in Mendocino County since the middle of April, when three divers drowned after entering the choppy water in Caspar Anchorage Bay, authorities said. The abalone season began April 1.
Falcon and his friend, who was not identified, spent several hours Tuesday searching for abalone among the rocks during low tide, a process called “picking” that involves wading into shallow water to search for the abalone rather than diving for them in deeper water.
After several hours, the tide had risen, cutting off the route they had used to enter the cove, the Mendocino County Sheriff ’s Office said.
Fearing they would not be able to withstand the cold until the next low tide, Falcon and his friend tried to exit the cove by scaling the bluff. Falcon lost his footing and fell to the rocky shoreline below.
His friend climbed back down, called 911 from a cellphone and started CPR. But Falcon was dead by the time rescue workers arrived, the sheriff ’s office said.
Because of the terrain, the Westport Volunteer Fire Department had to use a rope and harness to recover the body.
Thousands of people flock to the rugged Northern California coast during the abalone season, which runs to Nov. 30 with a monthlong break in July.
Last year, five people died during the abalone season, the Santa Rosa Press Democrat reported. Eight people died during the 2013 season, and two died in 2012, the newspaper reported. Four abalone divers died in 2011.
In the small coastal town of Westport, “everybody has just been very sad” since Falcon fell to his death, Lopez said. For weeks, abalone hunters have been saying that the water’s been rough and that the mollusk catches have come slowly, she said.
Falcon and his friend arrived at the Westport Beach campground late Monday night.
The friend left everything at the campsite: tent, food, supplies. They had arrived in Falcon’s vehicle, and he had to drive it home, which he dreaded.
Last week, authorities released the names of the divers who died April 12: Tae Won Oh, 49, of Dublin, Calif.; Hyun Kook Shin, 49, of Suwanee, Ga.; and Aaron Kim, 53, of Fort Lee, N.J.