Hmm, I was expecting all of them were et by sharks. Seems that they all had grossly misjudged their physical and medical conditions. It's sad, though, what ever the reason.

Im still trying to figure out why the 1st human risked life and limb to swing out over a vast abyss to snag the nest of cave swifts. Who told them soup made from bird SPIT would be worth the risk????

Pam,I've always marveled at all the trial and error suffered by all species in finding suitable food and how to store it or gather it. Think of the consequences for the failures.

How did man discover to cook meat? Who figured out drying it kept it preserved? How many people died before people knew which fungi/plants/berries were edible? How do animals know?

I doubt I have ever eaten abalone, who knows? I've eaten foods in countries where I didn't even know what I was eating. Given it is a rare delicacy, chances are slim. I do know about the coastlines though. Lived by them on the Atlantic and the pacific and respected tides and currents very much, having had close calls myself. There were oyster beds on the shore in front of my house in france. It was a rocky beach and you could walk out very far at low tide on the slippery stones. When the tide came in, it came in faster than you could walk back. Got caught out in it once and it scared me sensible.

As for dying from hunting mollusk? No different than parachute accidents, glider accidents, climbing accidents, kayaking rapids, riding cycles, or backpacking remote trails. I wouldn't consider harvesting wild ones as much to do with food as rarity and the hunt. Sort of like the wild morel mushroom game I play when I can break away to the wilds in spring. It's the hunt.

I've admitted to doing all but the climbing and backpacking remote trails mentioned above. Now, I'm not a paranoid person, but one could draw a conclusion there.

But I freely admit to being an invertible tree climber. Can that count for climbing ????

I suspect it's less about the abalone, than having a purpose to your diving trip.

First time I ate abalone, I gagged - the texture was like rubber. Second time was in Taiwan, and it was in soup, and was just delicious

If the texture is rubbery, then the abalone has been over cooked. I've only had it a couple of times. It's good, but the taste isn't what I would call a delicacy.

Overcooking will make Abalone rubbery, another reason for bad texture is when it hasn't been pounded enough. Most people use mallets and pound it after it's been sliced, I know of a woman who used to stuff the whole muscle into the leg of an old pair of jeans and then whack the heck out of it againt a rock or a tree.
It's a delicate flavor, and maybe what makes it a delicacy is the quick sautee in butter and olive oil and much garlic, pretty much the way I like calamari.

When I lived in Marin County (n . of San Francisco) I had a neighbor who dove for abalone in season and he really knew how to cook it and prepare it. He also knew exactly where and how to dive for it. The Pacific Ocean is very quixotic on these northerly coasts.

I think abalone is a delicacy - the taste is subtle and delicious, to me anyway.

People die every day for no good reason. I do suspect Sara is right though, it made a purpose for a diving trip.

I used to get sbalone all the time at Scoma's in San Francisco & thought it was delicious, nut never put it in the delicacy category. Don't ask me why. Maybe I was just ignorant of how it was caught?

Fiahing in general is a dangerous occupation.

Pollution is making many seafoods unsuitable for human consumption. Over-harvesting is another problem. The oceans are regressing to a prehistoric condition, with dirty water and a predominance of coelenterates. Future generations are expected to be dining on anemones instead of mahi mahi.

We used to eat abalone on Catalina Island, but I believe it is no longer harvested there because it became endangered.

It was very good, but certainly not worth risking one's life for.