[Previous entry: "FRESHWATER CREEK ...... Rainforest - Sea"] [Next entry: "LOSING THE PLOT? ...... Giant Groper vs Blue Groper (satire)"]
25/07/2008: "ABALONE A satirical history of these shellfish."
Abalone are single-sided shellfish which inhabit shallow cold waters around the world.
The shells grow to the size of dinner plates but mostly are the size of saucers. They contain a rubbery meat which leaks purple blood.
If the abalone were to leak bright red blood they would not be quite as popular as seafood.
They are in fact the first secret genetically modified seafood from a Japanese experiment 65 years ago released and spread world-wide.
Before this, abalone leaked red blood like most other things.
The new version abalone soon reached near plague numbers which threatened the habitat of sea urchin, seaweed and exotic reef fish like red rock cod.
So many abalone populated rocky reef's these reef fish were forced from their crevice dwellings and entered the brink of extinction classification.
To reverse the damage a consortium of governments has subsidized the elimination of this shellfish pest from our reefs by paying divers to collect this almost un-chew able lump of gristle under the disguise that it was an exotic food enjoyed in Asia.
Australian's who knew better didn't eat it.
Consequently abalone has been exported to Asia at silly prices where it is then treated by boiling for hours to make it edible.
This is all part of an elaborate hoax to justify the expense of cleaning-up the marine environment that was almost destroyed by the shellfish plagues.
Clever advertising and marketing abalone as an aphrodisiac has tricked many into believing this rubbery item is a delicacy thereby preventing an inquiry into the now tens of millions of dollars is paid annually to divers for it's removal.
Eradication of abalone plagues has been successful in California and Mexico, South America still requires help.
The red rock cod and sea urchins are gradually returning to normal levels and weed eating fish happily graze on seaweed pastures once threatened by this slimy, purple-blooded pest.
by SnapperGonza
Footnote: A 10-year old live abalone in-the-shell, sold for US$265 in a South Korean fish shop this week. Grim news for the Australian divers paid about $3 (adjusted) for the same item in 1965.
The pioneering price being 2/6 (.25 cents) per pound weight for abalone out of the shell Thirty cents which is about thirty cents per kilo in the shell. Thirty cents back then is about $3 today. Compare that with almost $300 landed and retailed in South Korea.
The diving for abalone today is highly regulated. A mystery disease effects stocks in areas of New South Wales which are now temporary no-take zones.
