According to Rhamona Gouden, CEO of the South African Abalone Export Council, illegal poaching now outpaces the production of legitimate farmers.
“Illegal poaching has a real significant impact on the industry. At the moment, South Africa produces around 2,000 to 2,500 tonnes of abalone a year. And illegal poaching? That produces around 3,000 tonnes. Yes, that’s more than from farmers.”
After decades of illegal activity, wild abalone stocks have been severely depleted, raising concerns about the sustainability of the industry.
Extraordinarily, these concerns are not just shared among the farmers, but poachers as well.
“As an industry, we have been approached by poachers for help to find a sustainable source of abalones,” Gouden told AgTechNavigator.
South Africa is no stranger to animal poaching but monitoring and safeguarding millions of abalones in the ocean is very different from “tagging a Rhinoceros with a chip”, said Gouden.
“Of course, people ask us about using technology, about using chips and tagging. But we’re talking about millions of abalones… Yes, the farms do use sophisticated technology like drones for private security, but even if you take 10 poachers away, another 10 will come into the system. There are desperate people looking to make quick money,” said Gouden.
Technology also has its limits when addressing labour shortages, another major challenge for the industry.
“We do get queries about using machines to shuck the abalones and people do talk about how artificial intelligence can help, but essentially abalone processing is the handling of live animals so it’s quite important to have that human touch,” said Gouden.
She emphasised that South African abalone’s premium price comes from the time and care required to cultivate and process it properly.
“We always consider abalone a niche product rather than a mass-market commodity.”
The rise of ranching
To safeguard South Africa’s abalone stocks, the local industry is increasingly turning to abalone ranching, a shift from conventional farming practices.
This involves placing farm-bred spat, or juvenile abalones, into the ocean and letting them grow in their natural environment.
Abalone ranching is not a new concept. Wild Coast Abalone, a South African producer, has been successfully ranching since 2012.
In recent years, concerns for depleting stocks have fuelled growing interest in ranching among more South African abalone farmers.
“The main reason for the interest in ranching is to protect the stocks of the South African abalone, or Haliotis midae, because it’s not found wild anywhere else in the world. And of course, once the abalone is back in the ocean, they’re in their natural environment gaining more nutrients so you end up with a healthier animal coming out of the sea,” said Gouden.
According to Wild Coast, seeding 4.5 million abalone has increased the population threefold. This has been verified by the Department of Forestry, Fisheries, and Environment.
Additionally, abalone farming in South Africa is becoming increasingly costly. The farming requires continuous electricity for water pumps, management of wastewater, and is manual labour intensive.
All of this contributes to high costs, heavy resource use, and significant carbon emissions.
On top of that, farms are challenged by frequent load-shedding, which disrupts the power needed for essential farming operations.
Because of these challenges, ranching is considered a more sustainable and cost-effective alternative.
A challenging landscape
The South African Abalone Export Council was at this year’s Seafood Expo Asia held in Singapore from September 10 to 12.
The organisation’s visit to the Asia tradeshow comes at a challenging time for abalone exports in Asia.
“There’s just an oversupply at the moment. Globally, people have stepped back from eating out and can’t always afford high-end imported products. South African abalone is priced high because of the brand and quality we supply. At the same time,there are other sources like China. The quality is not that great compared to South African abalone, but not bad either – and the everyday person usually can’t tell the difference,” said Gouden.
Additionally, South African abalone also struggles with the perception that it is an occasion-only food and is mostly popular with older generations.
“Traditionally, South African abalone has been marketed for special occasions like Chinese New Year, Mother’s Day, or weddings, targeting older consumers. As an industry, we want to change that narrative and appeal to younger consumers, showing that abalone isn’t only for older people or specific occasions,” said Gouden.
“People like you and me are so busy, and when we come home, we don’t always have time to prepare live abalone. If we don’t know how to cook it, we won’t bother. We want quick options. I think the industry needs to explore new products and innovations to make abalone easier and more affordable to enjoy, while still maintaining its quality and brand reputation.”
