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
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.
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.