The decline of many of the world's fisheries has stimulated interest in the enhancement of stocks by using cultured animals. Enhancement of abalone stocks with cultured Juveniles has been practiced for some time (in Japan in particular), but the high cost of rearing juveniles or the high mortality of seeded stocks has created sporadic interest in seeding with larvae. Abalone larvae are relatively simple and cheap to produce in very large numbers in a basic hatchery.

In this study we examined the feasibility of seeding larvae for abalone stock enhancement. We describe methods for transporting competent-to-settle abalone larvae from the hatchery to the field. We also describe a method for pumping larvae from a small boat to a diver for seeding onto suitable habitat and we describe several experiments using different densities of seeded abalone larvae, the use of mesh "tents" to retain seeded larvae prior to settlement, and the methods we used to estimate the subsequent survival of settled larvae. We also propose a larval seeding code of practice, and give a benefit-cost economic model for assessing the economic feasibility of larval seeding.

Larval abalone seeding experiments were undertaken at 7 main sites south of Port Lincoln, South Australia. Sites were selected on their suitability for later survey and the presence of abalone in the area. We reasoned that if abalone were absent naturally, then the area may not be suitable for seeding experiments. Two commercially fished species of abalone were used in the study; Haliotis rubra Leach (blacklip) and H. laevigata Donovan (greenlip). Larvae were transported from the hatchery to the experimental sites either damp (spread thinly on mesh, in an insulated container) or suspended concentrated in hatchery seawater. They were resuspended in ambient seawater at the experimental sites prior to seeding. Some differences in settlement densities were observed at the initial survey with each transportation method.