Review of abalone culture and research in New Zealand

Abstract

Despite interest and research in abalone aquaculture since the 1970s, the abalone farming industry is still in a nascent stage in New Zealand. The current aquaculture industry is based on mussels, salmon and rock oysters, and only trial marketing of cultured abalone has been done. The research on abalone in New Zealand reflects a young industry, with the largest category of published papers since 1990 on spawning and settlement. The status of the industry and research related to solving critical problems are reviewed. The major areas requiring more research are in overall system development and integration with food and stocking densities, food development both for recent settlers and later stages to achieve greater growth rates and lower variability among abalone, and algal harvesting effects and techniques to provide the information necessary for more harvesting permits to be granted. The industry will have to be increasingly focused on marketing and product development.