Abalone farmers bank on a revival

Tag : japanese sweet potato

Once near extinction, the abalone is coming back thanks toaquafarms on California 's coast Carlsbad Aquafarm is growing a multimillion-dollar investment in arow of tanks alongside a tidal lagoon just outside San Diego . In a process that has taken years to complete, microscopic abalonelarvae have finally grown into fist-sized mollusks that can fetch$30 a pound from top-shelf restaurants and other buyers.
 
The operation is one of a dozen or so aquafarms along the California coast betting on the culinary comeback of the puck-shaped mollusksthat were led to the brink of extinction by overfishing. It's very slow, growing abalone. You spend two or three years ofwork until you have something large enough to sell, said MattSteinke, a manager at Carlsbad Aquafarm.
But the wait has its reward. It's more or less an endless market, Steinke said.
Abalone production in the U. S. most of it in California roughlydoubled to about 522,000 pounds in 2005 from about 254,000 poundsin 1999, the last year Ray Fields, owner of the Cayucos-basedgrower, Abalone Farm, surveyed the nations output for theInternational Abalone Symposium. The rapid growth came as abaloneconsumers expanded from a core group of older Californians,nostalgic for the days when the delicacy could be gathered by thesack-full along the beach or ordered as steaks or burgers at fishshacks, to today's adventurous, well-heeled diners hungry forsomething different and quintessentially Californian said H. RoyGordon, president of the abalone consulting firm Fishtech Inc.
From a flavor standpoint, it's hard not to like it, said CoreyLee, executive chef at the French Laundry in Napa Valley . We're talking about a sweet, clammy shellfish.