World abalone fisheries and aquaculture update: Supply and marketdynamics

摘要

Culminating in the year 2002, a global shift in both abalone availability and distribution occurred. Country by country abalone reporting by FAO for both wild caught and cultured abalone changes significantly when further dissected and standardized. The FAO practice of reporting totals for "abalone shucked or not" and the continuing practice of some countries that still report their production by large groups of species, distorts both historical and current totals. Further review shows that the overall world supply of abalone, as a result of continuing increases in cultured production, combined with an unfortunate continued increase in the illegal wild catch is approaching the historical abalone abundance of the mid 1970s. However, major shifts have occurred when these dynamic changes are analyzed. These significant shifts demand inventive thinking on the supply side if prices are to remain at strong levels. Examples are given of approaches employing new creativity in the world of abalone marketing, distribution, and processing.