FISHERY BULLETIN: VOL. 87, NO. 3, 1989 



Ab Lab (J. McMullen, proprietor) began oper- 

 ation in 1972 at Port Hueneme, CA. Initial ef- 

 forts yielded seed size (2-4 cm) red abalone 

 grown entirely within small tanks. A change to 

 containment culture using mesh-ended poly- 

 ethylene drums held beneath a dock at the har- 

 bor entrance has improved production of larger 

 abalone (4-8 cm). A new market developed in 

 specialty seafood restaurants and sushi bars in 

 the Los Angeles area in the early 1980s. Ab Lab 

 marketed approximately 150,000 young red 

 abalone in 1986 (J. McMullen 1987''; Hamilton 

 1988). 



Monterey Abalone Farms began research and 

 development activities for culture of red abalone 

 in 1972. Using an old building on Cannery Row 

 in Pacific Grove, annual production gradually 

 increased, but difficulties stemming in part from 

 what was considered an inordinate volume of 

 governmental restriction and consequent efforts 

 in compliance (Armbrister 1980) prompted a 

 move of the operation to Hawaii. There, an ex- 

 perimental program is underway to apply artifi- 

 cially upwelled seawater to the culture of cold- 

 water mollusks in the tropics (Fassler 1987). 



Institutional research efforts related to aba- 

 lone mariculture have been diffuse. Studies have 

 been based largely at the University of Cali- 

 fornia at San Diego (Leighton 1968, 1972, 1974; 

 Leighton and Lewis 1982) and Santa Barbara 

 (Morse et al. 1977, 1979, 1984), the Cahfornia 

 Department of Fish and Game laboratory at 

 Carmel (Ebert and Houk, 1984), and World 

 Research, Inc., a San Diego nonprofit research 

 organization (Leighton et al. 1981, Leighton 

 1985, 1987). Many findings from these studies 

 have added to the fund of knowledge facilitating 

 the development of abalone mariculture. 



NORTH AMERICAN SPECIES OF 

 IMPORTANCE TO MARICULTURE 



Aside from a single rare and small species 

 occurring in deep water off the Florida Keys 

 (Haliotis pourtalesii), North American abalones 

 are to be found only on the Pacific coast. There, 

 seven species and two subspecies of haliotids 

 occur (Fig. 2). In the order of their historical 

 value to California fisheries (prior to 1975) are 

 the red, H. rufescens; pink, H. corrugata; green, 

 H. fulgens; white, H. sorenseni; and black, H. 



cracherodii. The remaining species are small and 

 of minor commercial interest. 



Descriptions and ranges for the northeastern 

 Pacific abalones are to be found in the literature 

 (McLean 1969; Haaker et al. 1986). An earlier 

 account by Cox (1962) and a later one by 

 Hooker and Morse (1985) contain inaccuracies 

 which make those papers less useful. Generally, 

 the red and black abalones are distributed most 

 broadly, while the gi-een, pink, and white aba- 

 lones are found only south of the cold-warm 

 transition near Point Conception, CA (Fig. 

 2.). 



''3. McMullen, Ab Lab, U.S. Navy Civil Engineering 

 Laboratory, Port Jueneme, CA 93043, pers. commun. 1987. 



120 



Figure 2.— Latitudinal distribution of abalones along the 

 Pacific coast of North America. Range limits are as provided 

 by Haaker et al. (1986). a. Haliotis kanitschatkana (two 

 subspecies, H. k. kamtschatkana north of Monterey Bay, 

 and H. k. assimUis south of that point), b. H. walallen- 

 sis. e. H. rufescens. d. H. cracherodii. e. H. fulgens. f. 

 H. corrugata. g. H. sorenseni. 



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