Pāua is the Māori name given to four New Zealand species of large edible sea snails, marine gastropod molluscs which belong to the family Haliotidae (in which there is only one genus, Haliotis). It is known in Australia and the United States as abalone, and in the United Kingdom as ormer shells. In New Zealand, these are known as pāua, which (as is the case with nearly all Māori words) is both singular and plural. In New Zealand, the pāua's polished inner shell is widely utilised for jewellery and ornamentation.
Species
There are four species of New Zealand pāua:
H. pirimoana is a small, recently described species endemic to Manawatāwhi / the Three Kings Islands that superficially resembles H. virginea.
Habitat
Pāua are commonly found in shallow coastal waters along rocky shorelines in depths of one to ten metres (3 to 33 ft). There is clear distinction between juvenile and adult habitats for Haliotis iris: pāua less than seven cm (2.8 in) occur in crevices and under stones in the shallow intertidal zone while adults are found in the subtidal zone.
Life These large sea snails survive strong tidal surges by clinging to rocks using their large muscular foot. They consume seaweed.
Harvesting Pāua are gathered recreationally and commercially, with strict catch limits set for both. For recreational fishermen this is five pāua per person per day. The minimum legal size for caught pāua is 125 mm (4.9 in) for Haliotis iris and 80 mm (3+1⁄4 in) for Haliotis australis, measured in a straight line at the greatest length of the shell. The exception is Haliotis iris taken from the Amateur Taranaki Paua Fishery Area, which is the area of Taranaki coast bounded by the Awakino River in the north and the Whanganui River in the south, in which the minimum legal size is 85 mm (3+1⁄4 in). However, pāua caught in this area cannot be taken east of State Highway 4 unless they meet the 125 mm (4.9 in) limit. In addition, no single person may have in their possession at any time (including on land) more than twenty pāua or more than 2.5 kg (5+1⁄2 lb) of shucked (shell removed) pāua. Pāua can only be caught by free diving: it is illegal to dive for pāua using scuba equipment. All pāua must remain unshucked until they are on the land side of the high tide mark so that Ministry for Primary Industries (MPI) fishery officers can inspect them if required. There is an extensive global black market in the collection and export of abalone meat. Pāua poaching is a major industry in New Zealand with many thousands being taken illegally, often undersized. The right to harvest pāua can be granted legally under Māori customary rights, but since permits to harvest are abused, it is difficult to police. The limit is strictly enforced by roving MPI fishery officers with the backing of police. Fishery officers can issue infringement notices of between $250 and $500 for minor offences, such as having one or two more pāua than permitted. More serious offences have resulted in hefty court convictions, including seizure of diving gear, boats, and motor vehicles as well as large fines and in rare cases, imprisonment.
Human use
To Māori, pāua are recognised taonga, or a treasure, esteemed both as kaimoana (seafood) and as a valued resource for traditional and contemporary arts and crafts. Pāua were often harvested by diving. Two traditional methods for collecting pāua included using a specialised flat tool called a māripi to pry pāua off the sea floor, or by placing an Astrostole scabra (seven-armed starfish), a major predator of pāua, atop the shell. Pāua could be eaten raw, smoked, cooked in a hāngī, or preserved. Preserved pāua were often kept for winter months, or used as items to trade with inland iwi. Pāua shells are frequently used to represent eyes of human and animal figures in Māori carvings, and used as decorations on cloaks and in earrings. Pāua is traditionally associated with the stars or whetū, the symbolic eyes of ancestors that gaze down from the night sky. Pāua has historically been used by Māori to make fishing lures, with fish being attracted to flashes of light bouncing off the surface of the pāua shell. During the colonial era of New Zealand, British settlers detested the taste of pāua, but had an appreciation for the shells. Pāua shells were highly requested items on the second voyage of James Cook, and were highly sought after by 19th century British jewellers. Eventually pāua became a part of the European New Zealander diet, first often appearing in soups and chowders. An international market for pāua meat began in the 1970s, after which pāua numbers dropped in the wild.
Whole shells were commonly used as ashtrays through the 20th century, and highly polished New Zealand pāua shells are popular as pieces of modern jewellery, with their striking blue, green, and purple iridescence. Pāua shell is also used as an inlay in a manner similar to mother of pearl.
Aquaculture
Background Pāua aquaculture is a growing industry in New Zealand. The industry was started in New Zealand in the 1980s, and to date there are fourteen pāua farms operating throughout New Zealand, from Whangārei to Stewart Island. The first farms consisted of small-scale backyard and shed farms in which techniques and processes that grew good-quality pāua were developed; these are now being used on a commercial scale in large pāua farms. These farms produce pāua for their meat and shells, and some include the production of blue pearls. Most of the production from these farms is exported to the US and Asian markets. There is high demand on the worldwide market, as decline in wild stocks due to overfishing and poaching means that the global market for abalone is greatly undersupplied.
… excerpt ends here. Continue reading the full article.
