Sport harvesting of Red Abalone is permitted with a California fishing license and an abalone stamp card. Abalone may only be taken using breath-hold techniques: freediving or shorepicking. SCUBA diving for abalone is strictly prohibited. Taking of abalone is not permited south of the mouth of the San Francisco Bay. There is a size minimum of seven inches measured across the shell and a quantity limit of three per day and 24 per year. Abalone may only be taken in April, May, June, August, September, October and November; abalone may not be taken in July, December, January, February or March. Transportation of abalone may only legally occur while the abalone is still attached in the shell. Sale of sport obtained abalone is illegal, including the shell. Only Red Abalone may be taken; black, white, pink, and flat abalone are protected by law.

An abalone diver is normally equipped with a very thick wetsuit, including a hood, booties, and gloves. He or she would also wear a mask, snorkel, weight belt, abalone iron, and abalone gauge. It is common to take abalone in water a few inches up to 10m/28' deep; less common are freedivers who can work deeper than 10m/28'. Abalone are normally found on rocks near food sources (kelp). An abalone iron is used to pry the abalone from the rock before it can fully clamp down. Visibility is normally five to ten feet. Divers commonly dive out of boats, kayaks, tube floats, and directly off shore. An eight inch abalone is considered a good catch, nine inches extremely good, and a ten inch plus (250 mm) abalone would be a trophy catch. Rock- or shore-picking is a separate method from diving where the rock picker feels underneath rocks at low tides for abalone.

There has been a trade in diving to catch abalones off parts of the United States coast from before 1939. In World War II, many of these abalone divers were recruited into the United States armed forces and trained as frogmen.