Abalone around the world

Pāua is one of New Zealand’s most iconic seafood species. It is popular with recreational divers, an important customary species and supports a valuable commercial industry.

Pāua are a member of the wider abalone family, of which there are over 50 other species around the world. Abalone are large marine gastropod molluscs, in other words, big sea snails. They are generally characterised by the flat spiral shaped shells with a string of respiratory pores along the edge. It is the ‘ear-shaped’ shell which give abalone its family name Haliotis, from the Greek halios (marine) and ōtos (ear) or ‘sea-ear’. The inside of abalone shells is composed of iridescent nacre giving it a striking appearance making it popular for jewellery and decoration. Abalone are prized for their tasty meat which is widely considered to be a delicacy. They typically inhabit rocky reef habitats throughout the temperate regions with some species distributed through the tropics. They live at different depths depending on the species.

Abalone have historically been an important food source for indigenous cultures, with first reference made to them by Aristotle 2,500 years ago. These days they remain an important food source for coastal communities worldwide and in some places are part of commercial fisheries. Here we look at some of the other well-known abalone species around the world and compare them to what we have here at home.

Starting across the ditch, Australia has 18 reported species of abalone with three that are commonly harvested. The greenlip abalone (Haliotis laevigata) is found in the southern waters of Victoria and to Western Australia (including the northern edge of Tasmania) it is characterised by its bright green perimeter of the foot muscle. They grow up to 23 cm in length and are found in depths up to 30m. Blacklip abalone (Haliotis rubra) have a similar distribution and habitat to greenlip and grow up to 20 cm, but they are distributed further south around the extent of Tasmania. As the name suggests they have a black lip to the foot. There are well established commercial fisheries for blacklip and greenlip abalone around the southern states of Australia with most catch from South Australia and Tasmania. The management of these fisheries is quite sophisticated, especially with regard to the minimum size limits that are implemented in recognition of the biological variation in populations in different regions. For example, there are five different size limits for black lip abalone around Tasmania.

Another popular Australian species is Roe’s abalone (Haliotis roei), which is found in shallower waters and has a maximum size of 120 mm. Roes abalone is a popular recreational fishery, particularly in western Australia where it is managed very strictly with fishing only able to occur on four Saturdays of the year in suburban areas.

In South Africa the most common abalone species is known as perlemoen (Haliotis midae) which is distributed around the southern-eastern aspects of South Africa. They are found in depths up to 10m and grow up to 25 cm. They have a brown outer foot and characteristic thin and deep corrugations on the outer shell. The perlemoen has been subject to extreme poaching for decades for its sale on the black market which has caused serious decline in this fishery leading to its endangered status. Most perlemoen industry is managed through aquaculture which also supports reseeding efforts in some areas to enhance and restore natural populations.

There are seven species of abalone found on the Pacific coast of North American (from Alaska to Baja California). The most well-known species on this extensive coastline is the red abalone (Haliotis rufescens). The red abalone is the largest abalone growing up to 30 cm shell length and they can live at depths up to 40 m. This species has experienced serious decline over the past few decades as a results of disease as well as intensive fishing at unsustainable levels. This has seen the closure of the commercial fishery and a very heavily regulated recreational fishery which operates under a ‘tag’ system where exact numbers of abalone taken by divers can be accounted for, but has also been closed since 2018.

Other species in North America are also in decline as a result of disease, habitat degradation, warming waters and fishing at unsustainable levels. For example it is estimated that the pink abalone (Haliotis corrugata) is now at 1% of its biomass compared to the mid 1900s. Restoration programs are in place for several of these species which are now considered endangered.

In Japan, abalone are called awabi with the most common species being Haliotis discus. Abalone diving is engrained in Japanese culture with harvesting traditionally being undertaken by “ama” (female divers). Small scale wild harvest fisheries still exist in Japan where ama dive for awabi to service local markets, however the fishery is strongly supported by large scale stock enhancement through reseeding.

China is the largest market for abalone worldwide due to its massive population and the popularity of abalone in China. In China, abalone production is almost exclusively through aquaculture of Haliotis discus hannai and Haliotis diversicolour. These are smaller abalone species that are favoured by China’s domestic market. Abalone production through aquaculture in China is more than 200,000 tons which accounts for more than 85% of global production. This is enabled by expansive sea ranching and aquaculture facilities that cover miles of the coast line.

Now back to Aotearoa – we have three species of abalone known locally as pāua.The two lesser known are the virgin pāua and queen/ yellow foot pāua (Haliotis virginea and australis respectively). Virgin pāua are the least common, they grow to only 80 mm and are found right up in the shallows in boulder habitats.

Yellow foot pāua have a bright yellow foot and resemble a smaller version of their Australian cousin, the blacklip abalone. They can grow up to 110 mm and are reasonably common through most of NZ, inhabiting the top of rocks and crevices.While they are quite tasty, they are not a commonly targeted fisheries species.

The abalone we are all most familiar with is the blackfoot pāua (Haliotis iris). Common around the extent of NZ’s rocky coastline living in depths up to 15m and growing to 200 mm. The blackfoot pāua is characterised most obviously by its brilliant iridescent blue/green/ purple inner shell. It is this colour which gives it its latin name ‘iris’ from the Greek ‘rainbow’. Blackfoot pāua also obviously has a very unique and characteristic all black foot.

The pāua fishery in NZ is one of the last remaining wild caught commercial abalone fisheries in the world. Abalone fisheries around the world have a poor track record of decline and collapse so it is vital that we continue to carefully manage this fishery as we are; primarily through the implementation of industry based management tools. The fishery is also of high importance to Iwi and recreational divers. With increasing participation in recreational dive fisheries it is critical that we carefully monitor and manage catch across all sectors to ensure ongoing sustainability of this fishery for everyone.