Current State of Abalone Populations Worldwide- A Brief Overview.

In a world where sustainability and trade regulations are in the spotlight, we must understand the fate of species being commercially fished. This post is a summary of what we know about wild fisheries as well as farmed population of our most relevant seashell species, the abalone, with up to 130 sub-species recognized.

Abalone Worldwide

It may be counter intuitive, but the state of sea shell populations is widely judged by the their annual 'commercial landing'. Abalone populations are described as belonging in 3 groups:

1. Abalone fisheries.

They are wild populations, but include sea bed areas where the planting of seeds, or re-populating, has occurred without any man made alteration of the habitat itself.

2. Cultured Abalone.

For intensive culture, the farming can be on land or in the sea, using man made tanks and nets. The extensive culture is done by planting abalone seeds in an artificial environment, prepared by man.

3. Illegal Catch.

By definition, only an estimate, generally defined as the catch that exceeds legally allowed quantities, plus undersized catch. It can be partly measured via export levels.

Wild Production Versus Farmed Production: Global Trends. Source- The international Abalone Society.

Overall production, all included: Monitoring started in 1970 for global supply of abalone from all sources, including fisheries, farming and illegal. It shows an increase by well over 10 folds, from 20,370 Million Tons (MT) in 1970 to 235,000 MT in 2020. Most of that huge growth has occurred since 2002.

Production from wild fisheries: Perhaps not surprisingly, fisheries production has declined over 70%, from 19,720 MT in 1970 to 5,800 MT in 2018. This is mostly due to two factors, the rapid depletion and collapse of some natural fisheries , plus the tightening of quota regulations and proactive enforcement in most countries.

Farm Production: It has outstripped the steep decline of supply from natural fisheries. Topping 185,000 MT in 2019, it is now nearly 80% of the total world supplies, and a whopping 36 times the wild fisheries' catch!

Where Does Abalone Farming Take Place?

With China producing 69% of the farmed abalone, and Korea about 7%, the remaining 24% are shared, in the following order, by 11 countries:

3. South Africa, 4. Chile, 5.Australia, 6.Taiwan, 7. Japan, 8.USA, 9.New Zealand, 10.Mexico, 11. Europe, 12. Thailand, 13. Philippines. Such a large development of abalone farming is heartening, as it takes the pressure off natural fisheries. The consumption of natural abalone meat now comes at a high premium. However, it can be said that increased availability of farmed abalone has contributed to the drop in price for natural meat as well.

The decline in production from natural fisheries is not good news for everyone. Less demand for wild New Zealand Abalone (Paua) means less access to the most colorful shell of all, Halliotis Iris. In turn the semi processed NZ Abalone shell products for jewelry, craft and interior decor, are now becoming a more expensive component, albeit still very popular.

What is the situation per abalone country?

South Africa.

According to the South African fisheries department, 'Abalone fishing is severely restricted in South African waters, but poaching is rife, as it is a lucrative trade. A big cause for the decline in abalone numbers is rampant poaching over the years. The species is highly coveted and fetches high prices, especially in the Far East.'

In 2012/2013, the government reinforced controls on poaching by multiplying police forces on the ground. They also embarked on a program of subsidies to commercial operations in the hope of increasing competition, creating jobs, and using quota owners as guardians of the resource. However, in 2021, illegal harvest was still estimated to be 65 times the legal quota harvest, and also exceeding farm production by 20%. Potential collapse of the South African abalone fishery is still at stake.

New Zealand.

The quota system and its enforcement are regarded as a model worldwide, as mentioned in our post following the 11th International Abalone Symposium, Auckland 2023. Poaching is still significant but is not considered a threat to fisheries. Challenging weather also helps protect the Paua species from overfishing. There is also hope that awareness campaigns are having an impact on poaching levels.

According to the Paua Industry Council, 'New Zealand's ten commercial Pāua fisheries are able to catch up to 919 tonnes of TACC (Total Allowable Commercial Catch) each year. Reported catch has consistently been less than 80% of the TACC for five years due to voluntary catch reductions by quota owners.' Source - paua.org.nz.

Since Sept 4th 2023, the allowable recreational catch per person has been reduced from 10 to 5, to further enhance population regrowth, bearing in mind that it takes 12 years for Paua to reach the legal size of 125mm.

Until 2004, 89% of exported Paua meat was canned for the Asian market. Today the domestic market for Fresh Paua has increased substantially and exports have seen a noticeable decrease, in a similar trend to Australian abalone. A good proportion of Paua is now exported frozen in the shell or live in containers.

Australia.

The Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) has created marine sustainability gold standards that apply to a number of species and how they are managed. In doing so, Australia is one of the highly regarded administrations. Using an independent international organization to appraise the applications for MSC certificates.

Found mainly on Western Australian Coastlines the larger species, Green lip and Brown lip, are considered one of the few remaining sustainable wild stock abalone fisheries. The wild catch has decreased by over 50% since the early 1990's, and abalone farming is increasing. Wild fisheries for Green lip abalone exist on the South Australian Coast and Tasmania, effectively controlled by Australian Fisheries.

Abalone is sold either canned or frozen in the shell, with 20% of the catch staying in Australia, and 50% split between China and Hong Kong.

Mexico

Report by Ricardo Searcy-Bernal- Abalone Symposium 2023.

Mexican Abalone are mainly made of 2 species, The Green Mexican abalone (Halliotis Fulgens) and Mexican Ripple (Halliotis Corrugata). They have suffered a well documented collapse spanning 3 decades from the 1960s to the late 1990s, mainly due to overfishing.

The Mexican Government became involved in promoting measures to save the fisheries. Since 1982, 8 hatcheries and 3 grow-out facilities- growing adult size shells for release into the wild- have started the rebuilding process in the natural environment.

In 2010, the commercial catch had been growing again for 5 years, However, with only 29% growth from the depth of the collapse, there is still a long way to go. On the Ground, the government is getting fishermen communities on side by 'Strengthening rights in exchange for marine reserves to help deal with high mortalities.' Source: www.sciencedirect.com.

It is encouraging to see local authorities involved in the recovery, even if the future of those species remains uncertain.

Europe

Report from Gercende Curtois de Viçose - Abalone Symposium 2023

Countries involved in the production, both from fisheries and farmed sources, are Iceland, Ireland, France, Germany, Belgium, Bulgaria, Italy, Netherlands, Spain and the UK.
Here, we have a similar story to other parts of the world where the wild catch was dropped by 85% in response to a near collapse. This was partly replaced by farmed production. Conservation efforts are in place to repopulate wild habitats.

USA- Canada

The Northern (Pinto) Abalone, is fully protected in Alaska. The commercial fishery has been closed since 1996. Personal Subsistence fishery via customary rights still goes on in some parts of the coast, with a bag limit of 5 shells per person per day. Minimum size is 3.5 inches. Another related species, the Red Abalone, has been known to reach one foot in length!

In British Columbia, the same species is also protected: No commercial, recreational, or First Nations harvest of Northern abalone permitted in BC since 1990. The status is reassessed every 5 years, having moved from 'threatened' in 1999 to 'Endangered' in 2009- Source: https://www.internationalabalo... - Laura Rogers- Bennett report.

Progress is mainly driven by total ban on fishing, but the first increase in density of Juveniles was only observed in 2006, 10 years later! Repopulation, or re-wilding, is also under way by the as shown on this video from Washington Fish And Wildlife Department.

China

Abalone has been considered as a desirable luxury in the Chinese culture for thousands of years. The endemic species in China is Pacific abalone, Haliotis discus hannai. Little information is available of the fate of wild fisheries, as it seems the Pacific abalone is a true success story of domestication and adaptation to subtropical conditions, spanning 15 Degree temperature variants- Source: Weiwei (Chris) You's Report-Abalone Symposium 2023.

As mentioned earlier, China is by far the largest producer and consumer of Abalone meat. However, Black foot Abalone of New Zealand and the Green Lip Australian abalone have long been favorites among Chinese importers.

Japan

Also inhabited by a Pacific Abalone-Haliotis discus- the Japanese coastline is considered a success story, mainly through extremely tight controls.

Australian researcher Jonas Woolford wrote in 2016- 'The harvesting season is during late autumn and early winter and is very short, being four mornings in November for 3.5 hours (6:30–10am) and three mornings in December for three hours (7-10am) - Jonas recalls he was warned not to go snorkeling in the fishery, even for research, as he could be arrested- Fishermen are issued a paid permit and compete for their share the total annual allowable catch, no personal quota are issued. This is how the one thousand year old tradition of harvesting9Mainly by women) has been preserved in natural habitats.

The money from permit holders is reinvested in buying juvenile Awabi (the common name for Japanese Abalone).

Hopeful times

Only a few species of Abalone in the world present an interest for the use of their shell, thanks to color, size and ability to be processed. Still, it is crucial to see this ancient mollusk in such high regards and subject to huge conservation efforts worldwide. Without such a big movement to support their biodiversity, our precious local populations would face a very uncertain future.

Future protection would need to involve other parts of the seafood industry: Sea urchins are known as a predator for kelp, and their recent proliferation threatens the abalone's habitat. Overfishing of the sea urchin's predators, like snapper, blue cod and crayfish, is responsible for this imbalance...more food for thoughts!