EARTH ISLAND JOURNAL • SPRING 2020 25\]JM_WZUKI[M[TWVOIJIVLWVMLIZMIٻ`ML\WQ\I[IZM
the sun-bleached remains of tiny bryozoans. These aquatic
invertebrates are hitchhikers, and serve as reminders that in
the vast, mysterious ocean, even a single abalone can become
the world to other lifeforms.
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tilt of my hand reveals a new palette of shimmering hues —
violet, brown, blue-green, silver. A hint of orange reminds me
of the bright, shiny waders I saw aquaculturists wearing while
gathering kelp for their abalone below a dim wooden pier in
Monterey. Their sustainable storefront is doing well for now,
but rising sea levels may result in its closure in a few years.
Dark purple, deep in the shell’s apex, is reminiscent of the
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are not the enemy,” I recall Silva saying during our conversa-
tion a few weeks earlier. “They’re changing, and trying to
survive, too.” Somewhere between turquoise and olive green,
I catch a glimpse of the kelp forest itself, the once-countless
fronds which are sparse now, but still swaying and reaching
up to the surface.These colors are real reminders of our ties to a deceased
animal, and a potentially dying species. Every long-vacant,
ear-shaped abalone shell rings with an opalescent plea, beg-
ging us to listen to, and learn from, the plight of these shell-
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recovery without human intervention. What ends up happen-
ing to these sea snails will reveal our capacity to reinstate and
nurture the ecological and cultural complexity of our world
that we continue to destroy.Dominick Leskiw is a young writer, photographer, and illustrator
currently studying English and environmental science at Colby College
in Maine.This article was conceptualized by Dr. Benjamin Neal, a marine
benthic ecologist at Colby College in Waterville, Maine, who is also
Leskiw’s research advisor.Biologist Laura Rogers-Bennett, who is raising critically endangered white abalone at the Bodega Marine Laboratory, says “the only thing we
can do with this species is captive rearing and putting them out there.”PH
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