MARINE INSTITUTE HOPES TO BRING BACK ABALONE.

Thousands of pink specks barely visible to the naked eye feast on microscopic algae in sea-water tanks at a land-based hatchery raising the future generation of an endangered species.

An ad-hoc group of marine biologists has formed a captive breeding program for white abalone, the edible sea mollusk that once numbered in the millions from Point Concepcion to Baja but now is nearly extinct.

``To this point it's an unmitigated success,'' said Tom McCormick, director of the nonprofit, educational Channel Islands Marine Resource Institute on the edge of Port Hueneme Harbor. ``I am pleased as punch.''

In April, after a months-long undersea search that found only 18 adults, two female mollusks spawned 6 million eggs, each the size of a grain of sand, fertilized by one male at the University of California, Santa Barbara. University scientists triggered the spawning with hydrogen peroxide, an abalone aphrodisiac developed for red abalone.

Although scientists spawned white abalone in a lab 30 years ago, this is the first attempt to do large-scale breeding.

The slow-moving, single-shell mollusks spawn by releasing their eggs and sperm into the water, where fertilization occurs by chance. In the ocean, the few remaining white abalone are so far apart they are unable to mate and are dying of old age.

Although a female abalone is capable of releasing 1 million or more eggs a year in the wild, several conditions must be met - including the right water temperature and food source - in order for breeding to occur, explained McCormick, who has specially designed tanks for abalone that mimic their natural habitat. The tanks are kept behind locked gates, and McCormick is on call 24 hours in case the system's life support fails.

``Even though the reproductive cycle is 20 to 40 years, there could well be a successful recruitment once a decade,'' he said. ``So an animal's contribution to the next generation is one, two, three times.''

The 100,000 or so juvenile abalone that survived the critical first three months of life are now about 5 millimeters long, said McCormick, a marine biologist who spearheaded the restoration efforts. He anticipated losing more during their growth period, which is normal.

``There's more in captivity here than exists in the wild,'' said Carl Demetropoulos, a marine biology professor and CIMRI board member.

Demetropoulos, using a technique developed at Oregon State University, is growing Pacific dulse or red algae, a more nutritious diet for the nursery production of the white abalone.

Not much is known about the deep-water abalone's biology and physiology, so techniques tried successfully for years on other species, like the red variety, are modified for use at the institute.

The breeding program, funded by grants and donations, aims to produce 10,000 abalone a year for 10 years at an annual cost of $100,000, McCormick said.

``One thing we stress is we need contributors,'' he said. ``The condor program spent $23 million and more than half of that was through contributions.''

The institute also is looking for financial help or donation in work or materials to expand the facility to accommodate the next growth stage of the baby abalone. McCormick estimated that project to cost $75,000 to $100,000.

In four years after the gastropods reach four inches, sexually matured and big enough to escape becoming a meal for predators such as lobsters and Ling Cod, they will be released in groups onto protective reefs around the Channel Islands. An average adult mollusk measures eight inches and weighs about three pounds.

The program's ultimate success will be judged on whether the released abalone will reproduce in the wild.

Gary Davis, a senior scientist at Channel Islands National Park, said researchers plan to return to the ocean in the fall to scout for more white abalone. The park is a member of the ad-hoc White Abalone Restoration Consortium that includes CIMRI and other public and private entities.

``To start a new population with nine or 10 individuals is not a very good practice because of not enough genetic diversity,'' said Davis, who has documented the decline of the white abalone at the park. He said they would like to have 200 abalone for the breeding stock.

The white abalone is the deepest-living of the eight related species found along the West Coast in ocean waters 60 to 200 feet down, where the temperatures are below 60 degrees.

Overfishing of the tasty sea snail for its tender meat in the 1970s - more than 80 percent was taken around San Clemente Island - prompted California in 1996 to ban its taking. For the 30 years the white abalone was harvested its numbers dropped 99 percent from an estimated 2 million to 4 million.

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(1 -- 2) Above, Tom McCormick, director of Channel Islands Marine Resource Institute at Port Hueneme Harbor, says white abalone are in danger of becoming extinct. At left, abalone are fed sea plants - Pacific dulse, left, and giant kelp - to sustain them in CIMRI's tanks.

Joe Binoya/Special to the Daily News