Abalone (Genus Haliotis) Mariculture on the North 

 American Pacific Coast 



David L. Leighton 



ABSTRACT: First commercial attempts to cul- 

 ture native Pacific coast abalones were undertaken 

 in California in the mid-1960s. These pioneering 

 groups established basic techniques and stimulated 

 the development of a half-dozen abalone production 

 operations, still chiefly in California. Refinements 

 to the culture technology have resulted from re- 

 search and development by the industry, but also 

 through studies conducted by nonprofit research 

 groups and government and university programs. 

 This paper briefly examines recent trends in world 

 abalone fisheries and the requirement for maricul- 

 ture, then describes and evaluates the principal ele- 

 ments contributing to the technological advance- 

 ment of abalone mariculture in North America. 



Substantial advances have been made in the arti- 

 ficial propagation of members of the genus 

 Haliotis during the past two decades in the 

 United States, Japan, Australia, New Zealand, 

 and France. Faced with the necessity to supple- 

 ment the fishery catch or to avert anticipated 

 declines in supphes of this valuable marine re- 

 source, efforts in several countries are being di- 

 rected toward development of effective hatchery 

 progi'ams for production of juvenile stock for use 

 directly in fishery enhancement (through seed- 

 ing) or for grow-out and production by maricul- 

 ture. Profit incentives alone have spuired the 

 evolution of private sector intensive abalone cul- 

 ture in the United States. 



By far the greatest national effort to increase 

 abalone production has occurred in Japan. Over 

 30 fisheries laboratories and "Fisheries Farming 

 Centers" throughout that country are concen- 

 trating efforts on generation of juvenile abalone 

 (seed) for release in the sea (Uki 1981; McCor- 

 mick and Hahn 1983). Collectively, these facili- 

 ties produce about 30 million seed annually (Uki 

 1981; Grant 1981). Authoritative reviews are 

 also provided by Ino (1980) and Saito (1984). 



The Pacific abalone, Haliotis discus hannai, is 

 the primary species cultured in Japan, China, 



and Korea (Sheehy and Vik 1981). Recent at- 

 tempts to culture the pauas (chiefly H. iris) in 

 New Zealand (Anon. 1986) as well as H. ruber 

 and H. laevigata in Tasmania (D. Cropp 1987^) 

 are showing encouraging results. The ormer, H. 

 tuberculata, is being produced in initial pro- 

 grams in Britain and France (Flassch and 

 Aveline 1984). Other experimental and incipient 

 commercial attempts to culture native and intro- 

 duced species are in progress in Canada 

 (Fletcher 1987), Mexico (Aguirre 1988), and 

 Chile (Owen et al. 1984). 



On the Pacific coast of the United States sev- 

 eral species of abalones have been subjects of 

 experimental and commercial aquaculture for al- 

 most two decades, chiefly the red, H. rufescens, 

 and the green, H.fulgens. The red abalone is the 

 largest member of the genus and, historically, 

 the major fishery species. First attempts to cul- 

 tivate abalone in the Western Hemisphere in- 

 volved this species (Owen et al. 1971; Leighton 

 1977, 1987). The green abalone, native to tem- 

 perate waters of southern California and north- 

 ern Mexico, is broadly tolerant of temperature 

 (Leighton 1974). Some new commercial enter- 

 prises are focusing on green abalone production 

 to capitaHze on its versatihty, relatively rapid 

 growth, and ready marketability. Until quite 

 recently, only in the United States have abalone 

 been cultured to adult size (5-10 cm) by intensive 

 methods for direct marketing as seafood pro- 

 ducts. Operations elsewhere in the world have 

 focused on producing seed for restocking pro- 

 grams, but it is anticipated that newly estab- 

 lished operations for full grow-out will soon 

 expand in Japan, Austraha, New Zealand, and 

 Canada. 



STATUS OF THE FISHERY 



Abalones, all in the genus Haliotis, are her- 

 bivorous marine gastropods which have long 



David L. Leighton, Marine Bioculture, Inc., 1167 Sidonia 

 Street, Leucadia, CA 92024. 



Manuscript accepted March 1989. 

 Fishery Bulletin, U.S. 87:689-702. 



'D. Cropp, Shellfish Aquaculture Investigations, Tas- 

 mania Department of Fisheries, 23 Old Wharf, Hobart 7000, 

 Tasmania. 



689 



