The state Fish and Game Commission was asked Saturday to limit abalone divers to taking two of the mollusks per day and 30 each year.

The limits, if adopted after public hearings, would halve the current daily limit and slash the annual limit from 100 abalone.

California Department of Fish and Game biologists estimate the proposed regulations would cut the abalone take nearly in half and conserve the breeding stock.

The proposal is the latest in a series of efforts over the past several years to boost the abalone population, which has continued to dwindle despite increasing limits on sport diving and a ban on commercial harvesting.

Authorities blame both disease and poaching for the diminishing number of red abalone.

With abalone harvesting prohibited south of the Golden Gate Bridge, the North Coast is a popular fishing ground for red abalone, a sought-after delicacy harvestable only by diving.

Authorities say abalone can command up to $80 apiece on the black market and up to $200 each in Asia.

Some law enforcement officials have compared abalone poaching to the drug trade, and rangers are battling it with checkpoints, undercover operations and criminal fines starting at $15,000.

The Department of Fish and Game's abalone team conducted underwater surveys off Sonoma and Mendocino counties to determine why abalone populations have continued to decline despite efforts to conserve the species.

``The department's biologists fear that juvenile abalone species are declining,'' said Fish and Game spokeswoman Chamois Andersen. ``It takes 10 years to reach the size where they can be legally harvested.''

But Gene Kramer, a diver and the executive director of the Abalone Marine Resources Council, said he isn't sure the recommendation is entirely justified.

``The divers who are diving off the coast still see an abundant population,'' Kramer said. ``This seems like a drastic cut.''

However, Kramer said that while the current crop of abalone is relatively large, corresponding populations of young mollusks aren't readily visible.

``Typically, they're hard to find when you're diving,'' he said. ``They're too well hidden.''

Kramer suggested to the commission that they keep the daily bag limit at four abalone but drop the yearly take quota.

``Dropping the bag to two a day is an undue burden on divers who travel long distances to get to the ocean,'' said Kramer, who lives in the East Bay.

The abalone team found diving has increased off the North Coast in the past decade, and there has been little successful reproduction of abalone off Sonoma County in the past five years.

Divers are now going deeper to get the shellfish and poaching is a continuing problem, Andersen said.

The commission, which met Saturday in Sacramento, will hold two public hearings to take comments on the recommended reductions in abalone limits.

The first will be in San Diego on Oct. 4 and 5 and the second in Redding on Nov. 1 and 2.

``A decision will be made at the Dec. 6 commission meeting in Long Beach,'' Andersen said. ``They have the sole authority for actually deciding if it will be law or not.''