Put 'Em Back x Abalone Restoration: A New Chapter in Coastal Conservation

You already know what oysters do for our coastal waters—filtering pollutants, building reefs, and creating habitat. But on the other side of the country, abalone fill a similar role in a totally different ecosystem.

Abalone are the quiet custodians of the kelp forest. As primary grazers, they feed on kelp and outcompete sea urchins—keeping urchin populations in check and protecting the balance of life beneath the waves. Without abalone, sea urchins can overrun these habitats, wiping out entire forests and replacing them with “urchin barrens.”

Kelp forests support hundreds of species—from fish and crustaceans to sea otters and seabirds. They even help absorb carbon from the atmosphere. When abalone disappear, the whole ecosystem begins to fall apart. That makes them a keystone species, and their survival is critical to the resilience of our oceans.

But overfishing, poaching, disease, and climate change have devastated abalone populations. In some places, they’ve declined by over 99%. Once abundant along the California coast, they’re now on the brink—several species are endangered, and one is critically endangered.

The Santa Monica Bay Foundation has been leading the fight to save California’s wild abalone since 2010. Their approach is as hands-on as it is science-driven, combining cutting-edge aquaculture with on-the-ground restoration in the waters of Santa Monica Bay.

• Aquaculture: They raise juvenile abalone in specialized labs, giving them a strong start before they’re ready for life in the wild.

• Strategic Outplanting: Divers tag and carefully place both juvenile and larval abalone into protective enclosures in key locations—helping re-establish lost populations.

• Long-Term Monitoring: Their team keeps a close watch, feeding and protecting the abalone during their acclimation phase and gathering critical data on growth and survival.

This is conservation work at its finest—deeply informed, carefully executed, and passionately driven.

To help fund this effort, we’re launching the Toadfish Abalone Collection —a new product line that raises awareness and supports restoration through purposeful design.

Each piece in the collection features a sustainably sourced abalone inlay in the handle—an iridescent nod to the species we’re helping protect. These inlays are made from repurposed shells originally harvested for food by certified aquaculture farms. Instead of letting those shells go to waste, we’ve partnered with responsible factories to give them a second life.

The result is a set of beautiful, high-performance tools that don’t just look good—they do good.

The Toadfish Abalone Chef Knife Set is our first release in the new collection—and it’s built to deliver top-tier performance in any kitchen. Forged from ultra-durable Japanese steel, each knife is precision-crafted for balance, sharpness, and strength. The set includes:

• 3.5" Paring Knife – Ideal for fine-detail work like trimming and peeling

• 5" Utility Knife – Versatile enough for slicing, dicing, and everyday prep

• 7" Santoku Knife – Perfect for clean cuts through vegetables, meats, and more

• 8" Chef’s Knife – Your go-to blade for anything and everything in the kitchen

This set isn’t just about great knives. It’s about telling a story—about species worth saving, oceans worth protecting, and everyday tools that help us give something back.