The Cultured Abalone Farm holds these values dear to us, as we are at heart a group of ocean-loving scientists who truly care for the abalone, the ecosystems that they reside in, and the oceans at large. Red Abalone has been an iconic seafood for thousands of years, starting with the indigenous peoples of the West Coast. We donate shells and continue to provide abalone to local bands of Chumash for traditional practices and to help uplift our community. We also support our ecosystem by outplanting red and white abalone into the wild through NGO partners. Our supply chain is incredibly small: we grow all our abalone, harvest wild kelp to feed them, and sell most of our seafood directly to restaurants. We strive to lead in our space and share knowledge with other abalone farms to support the growth of our small but mighty abalone aquaculture fishery in the United States.
The Cultured Abalone Farm
415-377-3363
About The Cultured Abalone Farm
Our farm was first established in 1989 on the historic Rancho Dos Pueblos that sits on the Gaviota coast of Santa Barbara County. We raise the native red abalone, Haliotis rufescens through their entire life cycle from spawning and larval rearing in our on-site hatchery to the harvest and delivery of live market-size abalone.
We utilize a seawater tank system designed to accommodate the abalone for each grow-out stage. Our tanks are continuously fed with cool clean water from the Santa Barbara Channel that is pumped from a depth of 40 feet directly to our tanks.
Our abalone are grown while housed in these tanks – shaded from the sun and designed to emulate the multidimensional rock substrate of their natural environment. They are routinely harvested and sorted by size as they move through the array of tanks until harvested at an age of 3-4 years. They forage continuously on a diet of fresh seaweed. We use both the kelp Macrocystis which we sustainably harvest from the dynamic local coastal kelp beds. We also supplement with various species of native algae which are cultivated in tanks on site to provide a diverse natural basis for their nutritional needs and a final product with exemplary taste and quality. We do not use composite feeds with terrestrial proteins or antibiotics at all. The abalone are nurtured in this environment, grown from the diameter of a pencil dot all the way to harvest at market size, which is about the size of the palm of your hand.
We serve customers throughout the United States and Canada and into the Pacific Rim. We also extend our sales to the academic and analytical communities by providing abalone for water testing and by supporting a wide diversity of research initiatives. We are proud of our enduring dedication to the stewardship and sustainable farming practices that have earned our farmed abalone the coveted green rating from Seafood Watch and we continue to strive to help restore abalone to its rightful place as an iconic California seafood.
Seafood Offered
Abalone, Sea urchin, Seaweed1
Locations
3
Number of Fishermen Sourced From
37
Years in Business
What are the Local Catch Values in Action?
Our “values in action” reflect how members of our network implement our core values in practice. Through the intentional work of LCN and applying the core values, these elements emerge. The values in action are not meant to be criteria or requirements for network members, but instead help describe how we will achieve our mission and vision and help anchor and guide our work.
- Catch and Handle with Honor
- Community-Based Fisheries
- Eating with the Ecosystem
- Equitable Seafood Systems
- Fair Access
- Fair Pricing
- Holistic Fisheries Management
- Honoring Our Ecosystems
- Learning Through Exchange
- Traceable and Simple Supply Chains
How does The Cultured Abalone Farm implement these values?
