abalone

" Abalone is one of the most prized sea delicacies worldwide. Farming of abalone began in the late 1950's and early 1960's in Japan and China. A very rapid development of abalone cultivation has taken place in the 1990s and it is now widespread in many countries including USA, Mexico, South Africa, Australia, Japan, China, Ireland, Iceland and others. The largest cultured abalone producer in the world is China with over 300 farms and a total production of approximately 3500 tons. Worldwide, there are over 15 species of abalone which are farmed and commercially important. Abalone farming, to date, has been limited and hampered by the quality and quantity of the macroalgae sources worldwide. Although some abalone farms have successfully fed manufactured food for nearly 25 years, a high quality low cost manufactured food has been a recent development. In the last 20+ years, the commercial catch of abalone worldwide has declined from 18,000mt to a little over 10,000mt. The future of world abalone prices will be affected by factors on both the supply and demand sides of the market - -but within a limited range remaining highly profitable for abalone farms taking advantage of current technology. Abalone aquaculture, even at its fast growing pace will take many years to fill the declining supply of the world's commercial abalone fisheries. "