The Abalone Mabe Pearl

A report about the pearl cultivation in New Zealand Report from Rainbow Abalone Ltd© New Plymouth, New Zealand by Alfred J. Römer
Picture 1: coastal landscape of Kaikoura, the natural habitat of the New Zealand Blackfoot-Abalone © Copyright Eyris Blue Pearl Company

list of contents: The New Zealand Blackfoot-Abalone This sea snail, which grows up to 18 cm in length and 13 cm wide, is the New Zealand representative of some hundred Abalone species found world-wide ...   The history of the New Zealand-Abalone The history of the New Zealand-Abalone, also called Paúa, goes far back into Maori history ...   The contemporary importance of the Blackfoot-Abalone Beginning in the 1990’s, the importance of Paúa-farming increased, due to the far-east market’s demand for the tasty flesh of this highly prized delicacy ...   Farming the Abalone in water tanks The farm consists of four levels of basins refreshed continuously by clean seawater ...   The First Attempts to Cultivate Abalone Pearls The French scientist Louis Bouton using the European Abalone Haliotis Tuberculata experimentally produced the first cultured ...   Raising young Abalones Pearl farmers take healthy natural adult specimens from the surrounding coastline and put them into containers ...   The water supply Two independently operating pump systems intake fresh seawater from approximately 400 metres off shore-close enoug ...   The Abalone Food Following the algae, fishmeal pressed into small plates and enriched with seaweed is fed to the growing Paúa ...   The implantation of the mabe nucleus Four-year old animals are extracted from their tanks and prepared for the implantation of the mabe nucleus ...   The Extraction of the Pearls The extraction of the developed mabe pearl takes place after two seasons, as only during the summer seasons ...   The Final Treatment The finished mabe pearls are slightly cut at the edges and the remains of organic material are carefully polished ...   Quality, Colour and Size The largest possible diameter with satisfactory height is limited by the reduced accumulation of nacre at the top ...   The Variety of Shapes By far, most pearls on the market are round, because greater deviations from symmetrical forms ...   The market and the prices Currently, the Abalone pearl (mabe) is purchased in the USA, New Zealand and in the Asian market ...   Mother of pearl specifications Abalone molluscs are a primitive group of marine snails of the class Gastropoda, sub-class Prosobranchia ...   The Pearl Farms Map of New Zealand with the locations of the pearl farms ...   Acknowledgement Alfred J. Römer is grateful to OSR Prof. Leopold Rössler, Director of the Polytechnic School of Vienna ...

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