Healthy diet for tastier abalone

The mollusks - which can be thought of as giant, flattened snails - eat kelp, but to be really healthy they need to eat small amounts of red seaweed as well, said Thew Suskiewicz, a master's candidate at the Marine Lab and a seaweed cultivation expert for the Monterey Abalone Co.

"They're getting lots of starch, and they just need their vitamins," Suskiewicz said.

The red seaweed helps the abalone to grow faster, healthier and more colorful, giving the snails the red hue that gives them their name: red abalone. Red abalone are one of more than 60 species around the world, with the fastest growth rates and the largest sizes.

According to a blind taste test put on by the company and the Highlands Inn, the abalone also taste better.

Together, Monterey Abalone Co. and the Marine Lab have set up a pilot program that will make the company's abalone farming operation more sustainable.

Abalone farming is considered to be a highly sustainable operation by California because the kelp the abalone eat grow extremely fast - up to a foot per day, according to Suskiewicz. However, storms during winter can rip up entire kelp beds, reducing the availability of food for the snails.

The company is now growing its own seaweed to feed its abalone. It grows both the regular kelp for the abalone and the red seaweed vitamins to keep them healthy.

The leafy food is grown on 40-foot ropes strung between buoys anchored close to shore in the Monterey Bay. To harvest it, the company's employees pull in the ropes, cut of the kelp they need and release the rope back into the bay.

Harvesting kelp is a bit like trimming the grass, Suskiewicz said. The shorter kelp allows more sunlight to reach the growth roots of the seaweed, inciting the kelp to grow even faster.

The company harvests several hundred pounds of kelp a week to feed its farm of 230,000 abalone.

Red abalone is grown under Wharf 2 in Monterey. The company has a "grow out" operation: it buys young abalone about the size of a quarter from hatcheries, and then allows the abalone to grow to market size.

A market size abalone can be from 3 1/2 to 6 inches long, and weigh from a quarter pound to a pound and a half.

Monterey Abalone Co. has partnered with the Highlands Inn in Carmel to showcase its abalone. Every evening in February, four abalone dishes are available at the Pacific's Edge restaurant and the Sunset Lounge. Reservations are highly recommended.