Open season on California's most popular mollusk has ended, but the fate of the Pacific red abalone fishery won't be determined by those who obey the laws governing it.

If you find abalone on the menu at an area restaurant, says California Fish and Game warden Tiffany Stinson, it isn't necessarily there illegally. But it might be.

Abalone popaching is hardly a new problem, as you can read in this North Bay Bohemian article from April 2008,  There is much more information about the abalone itself as well as the regulations that apply to in on the California Fish & Game website