NZ Abalones Grown in Malaysia

[briank]

Hi All, I thought this is an interesting story. Wonder why these abalones are not grown here and exported?

SITIAWAN: A Malaysia-New Zealand joint venture company has successfully carried out research on growing a temperate or cold water species of abalone at a farm in Kampong Koh here.

NZ Silverdale Marine Hatchery Sdn Bhd director Ben Ngoi said his New Zealand partner would be sending about 400,000 juvenile abalones to be grown in 23 tanks at the farm soon.

“In two years, we expect to harvest 15 tonnes of abalone worth about RM2.25mil,” he said.

Ngoi said yesterday his farm had successfully conducted tests on growing the New Zealand species of abalone (Haliotis iris) or Paua in the Maori language.

He said the species had black meat and a blue and green shell.

Ngoi, 52, said the joint venture started 15 months ago with Silverdale Marine Hatchery Ltd of New Zealand investing RM1.5mil and his partner Yeap Chin Hing, 45, and he each investing RM500,000.

DOUBLE CHECKING: Ngoi (right) and Yeap inspecting an abalone at their nursery in Sitiawan.

“Our research and tests showed that the salinity and pH level of the seawater in Malaysia are suitable for our project.

Tests were also carried out with juvenile abalones, from New Zealand, placed in tanks filled with seawater and the temperature maintained between 15°C and 17°C.

Ngoi said a juvenile abalone grew to an edible size after a year.

A unique feature of the company is that it uses the fully recirculating saltwater system, a patented product of Ngoi’s New Zealand partner.

“Our tanks do not need to be refilled with seawater. After the initial filling with seawater from Segari about 40km from here we only need to add fresh water to replace the water lost to evaporation.

“This means the farm will not be affected by extreme weather conditions nor salt water contaminants such as toxic algae, flooding and run-offs from other farms.”

He said the company had also planned to grow the Japanese and American species which fetch higher prices.

[Aquagold]

Hi there

New member to this forum. Be careful when you read some of the sale figures in publications as the price per kilo is high. I ran a paua farm in Gisborne and done quite a bit of research on the market, the return for stock input is up there. Good luck to htem on the other species though much easier.