How to Harvest Abalone

Abalone are large shellfish, or mollusks, that taste similar to scallops when tenderized before cooking. They are found worldwide except the western Atlantic, which is the east coast of North and South America. Follow these steps to find, harvest and enjoy fresh abalone.

Instructions

Difficulty: Moderate

1. Shorepick abalone. This method involves waiting until a very low tide allows you to reach normally submerged areas where abalone live.
2. Dive for abalone. In some places scuba equipment is not allowed, so you must free dive. If you want to dive for abalone, you should practice to get used to the disorienting experience of being underwater in the ocean.
3. Locate abalone by looking for the black edge or lip that sticks out under the shell. The shell itself is usually invisible against the background of algae covered rock.
4. Insert your abalone iron or a knife underneath the abalone's foot. Try to get at least two inches of your knife under it right away. If you are not quick the abalone will attach itself more firmly to the rock, making it almost impossible to remove.
5. Pull the knife toward you, instead of pushing down, to remove the abalone from the rock. If you are unable to remove it, stop trying and move on to another one. If you persist you will either fail at removing it or tear the animal.
6. Store the abalone in a cooler with ice, but be sure that they never come in contact with freshwater. This can be done by keeping them in a bucket or on a raised section of the cooler. Fresh water kills abalone and ruins their meat.
7. Clean the abalone by inserting the abalone iron underneath the head at the thin end of the shell. Push hard to release the foot from the shell and then pull the meat back, flipping it over in the shell. Once you have removed the meat, called a button, you must tenderize it. You can do this by pounding individual steaks with the smooth end of a meat tenderizer or by wrapping the whole abalone in a towel and pounding it with a board or bat. Use the latter method immediately after cleaning in order to reduce the amount of pounding.

Tips & Warnings

• Search the guts for pearls before discarding them. You can do this by feeling for a hard pearl inside them or by breaking them open and straining them.
• Be sure to understand all local regulations before attempting to harvest abalone. There are regulations for almost every aspect of harvesting from equipment and methods to how many abalone you can keep of what size and how you must store them.