For the feeding trials, kelp was harvested from shore in a nearby creek at low spring tide and stored in running seawater for one month at a time (between spring tides) at 7 degC. No deterioration was observed in the quality of the kelp during this storage time. However, it is anticipated that for a commercial size project seaborne harvesting from a specially equipped vessel must be employed.

'Immigrants' and 'First Natives' of Red Abalone (Haliotis Rufuscens )
The brood stock was imported from California in 1988

Gravidity is common at all times in the Red Abalone colony and has been detected in individuals as small as 40 mm shell length. Spawning can thus be induced throughout the year. During the later half of 1991, the MRI produced several age groups of all-Icelandic ('native') juveniles, the largest of which are presently ~65 mm (2,5") long at 50-55 gram (~2 oz) live weight (picture above).

Following the successful feeding trials on Red Abalone and with the breeding techniques well under control, it was found that this animal is not in great demand in the Orient - the oldest, largest and most traditional of abalone markets in the world. Oriental traditions in preparing and eating seafood differ very much from those elsewhere in the world. In Japan, some species are even consumed live. It is also a common knowledge that Orientals attach various kinds of superstition to a number of food items. So do, for instance, the Japanese by longstanding traditions believe that abalone possess Aphrodisiacal powers.

The diagram shows typical Growth Expectations of Ezo Awabi in a grow-out facility in Japan. Data for the initial twenty-four (24) months were obtained from an ongoing grow-out process and those for the following twenty-four months from various sources of Japanese litterature. The final twelve (12) months have been extrapolated.

It was found that there is a distinct preference in Japan for a local abalone called Ezo Awabi (Haliotis discus hannai ), the only species eaten live in that country. It fetches prices in Tokyo up to three times those paid for Red Abalone. Ezo Awabi seeks a habitat similar to that desired by Red Abalone, its US cousin, although it prefers a fraction higher temperature (18 degC instead of 15 degC). Growth rates and feed conversion ratios in culture are comparable for the two species and so is the demand for seawater and airation flow rates, indicating that the cost of commercial production might be similar.

Hence, it was decided to bring Ezo Awabi to Iceland and subject it to the same tests and scrutiny as Red Abalone had been earlier. Meantime, however, more stringent ordinances by the Ministry of Fisheries, governing the import of live marine organisms, required that a rather sophisticated quarantine be devised and located away from the Red Abalone colony (Keldur on the map). The design relies on experience gained during the feeding trials on Red Abalone and employs a watersaving system (diagram below).

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A sand filter removes solids (excrements and fragments of kelp) from the recirculated water, whereas a biofilter denitrifies waste substances from the animals dissolved in the water and acts as an airator. An intensive airation is provided separately for every abalone tank. Apart from substantially reducing the seawater consumption, the system cuts demand for heating to a bare minimum. The rate, at which effluent is discharged to the environment, is equivalent to that of the make-up water, thus reducing the demand for disinfection.

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The diagram shows how the biomass in a grow-out facility builds up to a Biomass Base that will permit sustainable harvesting of 200.000 animals/year of the sizes 85/83, 90/100, 95/116 and 100/133 mm/gr respectively. The diagram relies on Growth Expectations shown in a box above.

The Ezo Awabi test animals were transferred from a farm in Matsuyama City in the south of Japan to Reykjavik in two lots (October and December 1992). Three commercial flights took each lot via Haneda (domestic) and Narita (international) airports of Tokyo and the International Airport of Copenhagen to Iceland. This time, the tank-to-tank transfer lasted for some 42 hours. Much like in the earlier instance, the survival rate in the first attempt was not quite satisfactory but turned out 100% in the last one. In spite of the logistics of these operations being rather complicated, they worked out very well.

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The column chart above shows how the biomass in an Ezo Awabi grow-out facility grows into Biomass Base, represented in the chart through four red legs of equal lengths extending down from the green ones. If a Sustainable Yield of 200.000 animals/year of the size 85mm/83gr is aimed for, shown through the green column tops, the biomass in the facility will level out as Biomass Base after approximately fifty months in the build-up phase. Harvesting during build-up is indicated with the yellow bits. The chart shows little increase in the Biomass Base during the first two years in grow-out, but a sharp rise thereafter.

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Conditions in the quarantine did not facilitate reliable feeding trials on Ezo Awabi. However, observations of the animals confirm that the two species - Red Abalone and Ezo Awabi - behave much in a like manner in culture. Meanwhile, the Ezo Awabi stock has been released from 'intensive care' and moved to MRI's at Grindavik. Now that Red Abalone has been successfully bred in Iceland and Ezo Awabi appears also to be on a firm ground in the country, plans call for a commercial scale production of both species soon to be initiated.