Editing Abalone (section)

===Farming===
[[Image:Abalone-farm1web.jpg|thumb|right|An abalone farm]]
{{See also|Aquaculture#Molluscs|label 1=Aquaculture|Mariculture|}}
[[File:Alaminosjf384.JPG|thumb|right|125px|Abalone hatchery]]
[[File:Alaminosjf385.JPG|thumb|right|125px|Part of the [[:File:Alaminosjf403.JPG|Multi-Species Fish and Invertebrate Breeding and Hatchery]], (Oceanographic Marine Laboratory, Lucap, [[Alaminos, Pangasinan]], [[Philippines]], 2011)]]
Farming of abalone began in the late 1950s and early 1960s in Japan and China.<ref>{{harvnb|Anon|2012}}</ref> Since the mid-1990s, there have been many increasingly successful endeavors to commercially farm abalone for the purpose of consumption.<ref>{{harvnb|Taggart|2002}}</ref> Overfishing and poaching have reduced wild populations to such an extent that farmed abalone now supplies most of the abalone meat consumed. The principal abalone farming regions are China, Taiwan,<ref>{{harvnb|Westaway|Norriss|1997|p=1}}</ref> Japan, and Korea. Abalone is also farmed in Australia, Canada, Chile, France,<ref>{{harvnb|Simons|2010}}</ref> [[Iceland]], Ireland, Mexico, [[Namibia]], New Zealand, South Africa, Spain,<ref name="ElPais">{{cite web
 | url =http://politica.elpais.com/politica/2016/07/27/actualidad/1469637381_879215.html
 | title =El marisco más exclusivo del mundo se cría en Galicia
 | date =28 July 2016
| website =El Pais
 | publisher =PRISA
 | access-date =28 July 2016
}}</ref> Thailand, and the United States.<ref>{{harvnb|Freeman|2001|p=1}}</ref>

After trials in 2012,<ref name="oceangrown.com.au-2013">{{cite web
 |url          = http://www.oceangrown.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/Ocean-Grown-Information-Memorandum-Approved-Screen.pdf
 |title        = Information Memorandum, 2013 Ranching of Greenlip Abalone, Flinders Bay – Western Australia
 |website      = Ocean Grown Abalone
 |access-date  = 23 April 2016
|archive-url  = https://web.archive.org/web/20161010215256/http://www.oceangrown.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/Ocean-Grown-Information-Memorandum-Approved-Screen.pdf
 |archive-date = 10 October 2016
|url-status     = dead
 |df           = dmy-all
}}</ref> a commercial "sea ranch" was set up in [[Flinders Bay]], Western Australia to raise abalone. The ranch is based on an artificial reef made up of 5,000 separate concrete abalone habitat units, which can host 400 abalone each. The reef is seeded with young abalone from an onshore hatchery.

The abalone feed on seaweed that grows naturally on the habitats; the ecosystem enrichment of the bay also results in growing numbers of [[dhufish]], [[pink snapper]], [[wrasse]], and [[Samson fish]] among other species.<ref name="abc.net.au-2014-08-15">{{cite web
 | url =http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-08-15/nrn-abalone-wild-farm/5673010
 | title =First wild abalone farm in Australia built on artificial reef 
 | last =Fitzgerald
 | first =Bridget
 | date =28 August 2014
| website =Australian Broadcasting Corporation Rural
 | publisher =Australian Broadcasting Corporation
 | access-date =23 April 2016}}</ref><ref name="abc.net.au-2016-04-23">{{cite web
 | url =http://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-04-23/world-first-abalone-sea-ranch-creating-opportunity/7345448
 | title =Abalone grown in world-first sea ranch in WA 'as good as wild catch'
 | last =Murphy
 | first =Sean
 | date =23 April 2016
| website =Australian Broadcasting Corporation News
 | publisher =Australian Broadcasting Corporation
 | access-date =23 April 2016}}</ref>