Privacy Policy

PRIVACY STATEMENT

----

SECTION 1 - WHAT DO WE DO WITH YOUR INFORMATION?

When you purchase something from our store, as part of the buying and selling process, we collect the personal information you give us such as your name, address and email address.
When you browse our store, we also automatically receive your computer’s internet protocol (IP) address in order to provide us with information that helps us learn about your browser and operating system.
Email marketing (if applicable): With your permission, we may send you emails about our store, new products and other updates.

SECTION 2 - CONSENT

How do you get my consent?
When you provide us with personal information to complete a transaction, verify your credit card, place an order, arrange for a delivery or return a purchase, we imply that you consent to our collecting it and using it for that specific reason only.
If we ask for your personal information for a secondary reason, like marketing, we will either ask you directly for your expressed consent, or provide you with an opportunity to say no.

How do I withdraw my consent?
If after you opt-in, you change your mind, you may withdraw your consent for us to contact you, for the continued collection, use or disclosure of your information, at anytime, by contacting us at info@arapawabluepearls.co.nz or mailing us at: Arapawa Sea Farms Ltd, Private Bag 406, Whekenui, Picton 7250.

SECTION 3 - DISCLOSURE

We may disclose your personal information if we are required by law to do so or if you violate our Terms of Service.

SECTION 4 - SHOPIFY

Our store is hosted on Shopify Inc. They provide us with the online e-commerce platform that allows us to sell our products and services to you.
Your data is stored through Shopify’s data storage, databases and the general Shopify application. They store your data on a secure server behind a firewall.

Payment:
If you choose a direct payment gateway to complete your purchase, then Shopify stores your credit card data. It is encrypted through the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI-DSS). Your purchase transaction data is stored only as long as is necessary to complete your purchase transaction. After that is complete, your purchase transaction information is deleted.
All direct payment gateways adhere to the standards set by PCI-DSS as managed by the PCI Security Standards Council, which is a joint effort of brands like Visa, MasterCard, American Express and Discover.
PCI-DSS requirements help ensure the secure handling of credit card information by our store and its service providers.
For more insight, you may also want to read Shopify’s Terms of Service (https://www.shopify.com/legal/terms) or Privacy Statement (https://www.shopify.com/legal/privacy).

SECTION 5 - THIRD-PARTY SERVICES

In general, the third-party providers used by us will only collect, use and disclose your information to the extent necessary to allow them to perform the services they provide to us.
However, certain third-party service providers, such as payment gateways and other payment transaction processors, have their own privacy policies in respect to the information we are required to provide to them for your purchase-related transactions.
For these providers, we recommend that you read their privacy policies so you can understand the manner in which your personal information will be handled by these providers.
In particular, remember that certain providers may be located in or have facilities that are located a different jurisdiction than either you or us. So if you elect to proceed with a transaction that involves the services of a third-party service provider, then your information may become subject to the laws of the jurisdiction(s) in which that service provider or its facilities are located.
As an example, if you are located in Canada and your transaction is processed by a payment gateway located in the United States, then your personal information used in completing that transaction may be subject to disclosure under United States legislation, including the Patriot Act.
Once you leave our store’s website or are redirected to a third-party website or application, you are no longer governed by this Privacy Policy or our website’s Terms of Service.

Links
When you click on links on our store, they may direct you away from our site. We are not responsible for the privacy practices of other sites and encourage you to read their privacy statements.

SECTION 6 - SECURITY

To protect your personal information, we take reasonable precautions and follow industry best practices to make sure it is not inappropriately lost, misused, accessed, disclosed, altered or destroyed.
If you provide us with your credit card information, the information is encrypted using secure socket layer technology (SSL) and stored with a AES-256 encryption. Although no method of transmission over the Internet or electronic storage is 100% secure, we follow all PCI-DSS requirements and implement additional generally accepted industry standards.

SECTION 7 - COOKIES

Here is a list of cookies that we use. We’ve listed them here so you that you can choose if you want to opt-out of cookies or not.
_session_id, unique token, sessional, Allows Shopify to store information about your session (referrer, landing page, etc).
_shopify_visit, no data held, Persistent for 30 minutes from the last visit, Used by our website provider’s internal stats tracker to record the number of visits
_shopify_uniq, no data held, expires midnight (relative to the visitor) of the next day, Counts the number of visits to a store by a single customer.
cart, unique token, persistent for 2 weeks, Stores information about the contents of your cart.
_secure_session_id, unique token, sessional
storefront_digest, unique token, indefinite If the shop has a password, this is used to determine if the current visitor has access.


SECTION 8 - AGE OF CONSENT

By using this site, you represent that you are at least the age of majority in your state or province of residence, or that you are the age of majority in your state or province of residence and you have given us your consent to allow any of your minor dependents to use this site.

SECTION 9 - CHANGES TO THIS PRIVACY POLICY

We reserve the right to modify this privacy policy at any time, so please review it frequently. Changes and clarifications will take effect immediately upon their posting on the website. If we make material changes to this policy, we will notify you here that it has been updated, so that you are aware of what information we collect, how we use it, and under what circumstances, if any, we use and/or disclose it.
If our store is acquired or merged with another company, your information may be transferred to the new owners so that we may continue to sell products to you.

QUESTIONS AND CONTACT INFORMATION

If you would like to: access, correct, amend or delete any personal information we have about you, register a complaint, or simply want more information contact us at info@arapawabluepearls.co.nz or by mail at
Arapawa Sea Farms Ltd, Private Bag 406, Whekenui, Picton 7250.
----
Support the Paua Reseeding Project

Our Story: Why Pāua Matter

Here on Arapaoa Island, where the Cook Strait's wild currents meet the Marlborough Sounds, our family has fallen in love with one of New Zealand's most precious creatures, the pāua (abalone).

These beautiful shellfish aren't just seafood. They're a taonga (treasure) that connects us to the ocean, and to future generations. But they're in trouble.

Coastal development is destroying their homes. And in the wild, only one baby pāua in 20 million survives to adulthood.

We couldn't just watch them disappear.

What Makes Us Different: The Guardians

Arapawa Blue Pearls is the first and only pāua farm in New Zealand to ever undertake this intensive reseeding mission. No other commercial pāua farm has done what we do, raising babies specifically to return them to the wild, 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.

For 25 years, we've been pioneering something that didn't exist before: a pāua farm that's as much about conservation as it is about harvest. We're proving that commercial operations can heal the ocean, not just take from it.

The Kaikoura Earthquake: When Nature Called for Help

In 2016, a massive earthquake lifted Kaikoura's seabed by up to six metres. In minutes, millions of pāua were exposed and died. Entire populations were wiped out. The coastline looked like a graveyard.
We knew we had to act.

We immediately focused our reseeding efforts on Kaikoura's devastated coastline. Tank by tank, release by release, we helped bring life back to those broken reefs.

Today, it's a joy to see pāua thriving again in Kaikoura. Where there was once devastation, there's now hope. It's proof that what we do works, and that nature can recover when we give it a helping hand.

How We Do It: Creating a Model for Others to Follow

Step 1: The Nursery Never Sleeps

We start with a handful of adult pāua. These parents are precious; we handle them like newborns because their soft bodies are so delicate.

When they spawn, magic happens. Within 24 hours, hundreds of thousands of tiny pāua begin their journey. And from that moment, someone is watching over them every single day and night.

Step 2: Growing Strong
We feed them seaweed and watch them grow. You should see feeding time, they can actually smell the seaweed coming and get so excited!
Christmas Day, stormy nights, family birthdays, we're always here. Because missing even one day could mean losing thousands of future pāua.

Step 3: Back to the Ocean

At eight months old, when they're about the size of your fingernail (10-15mm), our pāua graduates are ready. The strongest are released into the wild, carrying the future of their species with them.

In our nursery, we've increased their survival rate. Instead of one in 20 million, thousands make it to their teenage years.

The Impact: Proven Results Over 25 Years

Our pioneering approach shows in real, measurable ways:

  • Wild pāua populations at 25-year highs in our region
  • Catches more than doubled while populations grow stronger
  • Kaikoura's coastline restored after near-total destruction
  • Larger, healthier pāua throughout the Marlborough Sounds
  • A replicable model that other farms could adopt

Each young pāua we release helps:

  • Rebuild populations devastated by earthquakes and warming seas
  • Restore balance to rocky reef ecosystems
  • Support sustainable fishing by ensuring healthy stocks
  • Preserve Māori heritage and kaimoana traditions
  • Create resilience against future disasters

Our Vision: A Network of Reseeding Farms

We dream of a future where we're not alone in this work. Imagine if every region had a pāua farm dedicated to reseeding. Imagine the recovery our oceans could see.

We're ready to share everything we've learned, our methods, our systems, our 25 years of hard-won knowledge. We want to inspire and help others create their own reseeding operations.

With your support, we can:

  • Continue our 24/7 nursery operations as a living example
  • Document and share our methods for others to replicate
  • Expand reseeding to more earthquake and climate-affected areas
  • Raise 50,000+ baby pāua yearly from our farm alone
  • Train and mentor new farms wanting to start reseeding programs
  • Create a movement that transforms how we think about marine farming

Make a Difference Today

Every dollar you donate literally puts more pāua back in the ocean.
$20 = Feed 100 baby pāua for a week
$50 = Equipment for 24-hour monitoring
$100 = Materials for a new nursery tank section
$500 = Support a full spawning cycle
$1,000 = Release 1,000 juvenile pāua to the wild

Donate Now on Givealittle - Save the Pāua

Support the Paua Reseeding Project

A Personal Message from Our Family

We're not a big corporation. We're a family who took a chance on something no pāua farm had ever tried before, giving back more than we take.

Every morning at 4am, when we check on the baby pāua, we think about Kaikoura's empty rocks after the earthquake. We remember the devastation. Then we think about those same rocks today, covered in healthy pāua again, and we know why we do this.

We're the only pāua farm doing this intensive reseeding work, but we don't want to be the only ones forever. We want to inspire a movement. We want other farms to see that you can be profitable AND be healers of the ocean.

It's exhausting. It's expensive. It means no holidays, no sleep-ins, no days off.
But it's working. The proof is in our waters, the best pāua populations we've seen in 25 years.

This model works. It could work anywhere. But first, we need to keep it alive and thriving here, as proof of what's possible.
Join us. Help us show the world that marine farms can be the solution, not the problem. Be part of the first generation to leave the ocean better than we found it.

The pāua need us. The ocean needs us. And we need you.

Thank you,
The Team at Arapawa Blue Pearls

Wear the Story: Our Conservation Jewellery

Nature gifts us something extraordinary. Our pāua produce stunning blue pearls, among the rarest pearls in the world. Each one is unique, carrying the blues and greens of our pristine waters.

When you wear our pāua pearl jewellery, you're wearing more than a beautiful gem. You're wearing:

  • A piece of conservation history from New Zealand's only reseeding farm
  • A symbol of hope for our oceans
  • A conversation starter about marine protection
  • A direct contribution to our reseeding program

Every pearl purchased helps fund our nursery operations. It's jewellery that tells a story of baby pāua returned to the sea, of an ocean recovering.

Our Pearls & Jewellery

Pendant jewellery from Arapawa Blue Pearls in Marlborough New Zealand

Necklaces

Earrings from Arapawa Blue Pearls in Marlborough New Zealand

Earrings

Ring jewellery from Arapawa Blue Pearls in Marlborough New Zealand

Rings

Bracelet jewellery from Arapawa Blue Pearls in Marlborough New Zealand

Bracelets

Share Our Story

Follow us on social media. Share our posts. Tell friends about New Zealand's only pāua reseeding farm. Help us inspire others to start their own conservation journeys.