Highly prized for their tender white meat, white abalone were harvested in an intense commercial and recreational fishery that developed during the 1970s, then quickly peaked and crashed as the abalone became increasingly scarce. The fishery for white abalone closed in 1996.

In the 1990s, less than one white abalone per acre could be found in surveys conducted by federal and state biologists. The rarity of this species within its historical center of abundance prompted the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) to list it as a candidate species under the Endangered Species Act in 1997. In May 2001, the white abalone became the first marine invertebrate to receive federal protection as an endangered species.

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