Farmed paua goes live to Korea

The first farmed paua exported live under New Zealand Food Safety and MAF regulations was headed for Korea last week.

The shipment marked a milestone for East Land Aquaculture after two years of work and investment.

Owners Ivan and Merrilyn Wilson have been sending samples to other Asian countries, but found it difficult to establish a market because of the amount of paua required continually, as the farm is not yet at full capacity.

The day-to-day running of the paua farm is done by the Wilsons' daughter and son-in-law, Emma and Antony Robinson.

"At the moment there's no way we could fulfil an order to the volume they were requesting," Mrs Robinson said.

But a mass of emails and several trips overseas have borne fruit. About 120 paua totalling 10kg were flown to Korea packed in polybins, inside a prawn crate on wood wool to soak up the excess water.

This is the first of what is hoped will be a regular order.

The involvement of Fiordland Lobster in Mt Maunganui is an important step, because the company has the risk management programme required by New Zealand Food Safety with a special amendment to include paua.

The shellfish are exported from there, surrounded by chill pads to keep them cool.

Mrs Robinson said a sample of 50 paua made the 30-hour tank-to-tank trip to Hong Kong with no mortalities.

At present the highest prices are fetched by South African abalone, but the New Zealand product has a major selling point. No other country is able to produce such an aesthetically pleasing paua, with its pale blue shell a sure attraction for restaurants.

"The wow factor is the shell, because you won't see it anywhere else," Mrs Robinson said.

It is unique to farmed paua as opposed to wild paua, with different marketing required.

Other differences include a white foot rather than completely black flesh, and the meat is much more tender than wild paua.

On a recent trip to China Mr Wilson found that in the market for canned abalone, New Zealand wild was the cheapest at about $43 for 215g of meat.

Top-of-the-line South African product was selling for up to $200 for 215g.

- NZPA