Farmed paua goes live to Korea

NEW ZEALAND - The first farmed paua exported live under New Zealand Food Safety and MAF regulations was headed for Korea last week.

The shipment marked a milestone for East Land Aquaculture after two years of work and investment.

Owners Ivan and Merrilyn Wilson have been sending samples to other Asian countries, but found it difficult to establish a market because of the amount of paua required continually, as the farm is not yet at full capacity.

The day-to-day running of the paua farm is done by the Wilsons' daughter and son-in-law, Emma and Antony Robinson.

"At the moment there's no way we could fulfil an order to the volume they were requesting," Mrs Robinson said.

But a mass of emails and several trips overseas have borne fruit. About 120 paua totalling 10kg were flown to Korea packed in polybins, inside a prawn crate on wood wool to soak up the excess water.

This is the first of what is hoped will be a regular order.

Source: The New Zealand Herald