Australian Wild Abalone® (AWA®) represents the best quality wild caught abalone in the world.

Australian wild-caught abalone are highly sought after by consumers who appreciate the finer things in life and are looking for new and exciting food experiences. Each wild-caught abalone is caught by hand causing no damage to the surrounding environment.

Cold and clean oceanic waters with seaweed in abundance for the wild abalone to feed on result in succulent and tasty abalone meat prized by discerning diners from all corners of the globe.

Australian abalone exporters who are licensed to use the AWA® industry mark must comply with the AWA® Quality Assurance Code of Practice (compliance with this Code enables the exporter to display the AWA® logo on their product packaging).

Purchasers of abalone products displaying the AWA® brand will know with certainty they have purchased genuine premium quality Australian Wild Abalone® that has been harvested from the cold clean waters of southern Australia and processed and packaged according to stringent Quality Assurance guidelines.

This logo indicates:

• That the product is harvested from a sustainably managed wild fishery
• That the supplier has complied with the AWA® Quality Assurance Code of Practice
• That the product is genuine Australian Wild Abalone®

Australian Wild Abalone® is harvested from the cool, unpolluted waters of Australia’s southern coastline.

Commercial abalone fisheries exist in Western Australia, South Australia, Tasmania, Victoria and New South Wales. All are highly regulated and monitored by the Department of Fisheries of each State Government. There are strictly enforced controls that limit the total commercial harvest. These controls ensure that the fisheries are managed in an ecologically sustainable manner.

Australian wild capture abalone fisheries have been certified for export under the Commonwealth Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 (EPBC Act).

Each State abalone fishery is assessed against the Guidelines for the Ecologically Sustainable Management of Fisheries – Edition 2 under the EPBC Act. Following this assessment, each abalone fishery has been certified for export in recognition that it is managed in an environmentally sustainable manner.

All Australian exporters must be accredited by the Australian Government Department of Agriculture, Water and the Environment (DAWE), to be eligible for export.

All Australian processors must also be licensed by their relevant State Government to be eligible to purchase, process and pack abalone.

More about our environmental credentials.

Premium Quality Australian Wild Abalone® (AWA®) is proudly supplied by the following Australian Companies – each of these Companies complies with the AWA® Quality Assurance Code of Practice and is approved for Export by the Australian Government.

List of industry sites

• Abalone Council Australia Ltd
• Tasmanian Abalone Council Ltd
• Abalone Council Victoria
• Western Abalone Divers Association (Victoria)
• Eastern Zone Abalone Industry Association (Victoria)
• Abalone Victoria (Central Zone)
• Abalone Industry Association of Western Australia

Visit our approved suppliers websites for more information.

Australian Wild Abalone® is being used by some of Asia’s top chefs to create amazing dishes.

Increasingly, it is also featured by Australian chefs who are keen to promote the taste and health benefits of Australian wild caught abalone products to local consumers.

Wild Australian abalone has many superior nutritional benefits – it is healthy to eat and provides many important nutrients.

Here are some tips for cooking with Australian wild caught abalone.

Nutritional Facts

Australian Wild Abalone® is a good source of Omega 3, protein, iodine, iron and is low in saturated fat. Abalone contains no trans fat. Find out more information about the nutritional benefits of abalone, or click on the icons below to view the full nutritional information panel.

The freshly harvested abalones are delivered to “state of the art” processing premises via temperature controlled trucks where they are carefully unloaded and prepared for processing.

The abalones are then processed through carefully controlled operations that ensure the final packaged products retain their premium quality and are naturally nutritious with that unique taste only wild abalones freshly harvested from the seabed can provide.

Visit our YouTube Channel to find out more about the abalone industry in Australia.

Australian wild abalones are very selective about the environment in which they live – the sea should be cold with a high salt content, there should be regular water movement and a healthy abundant supply of seaweed. Although abalone grow in many places around the world, the best quality and most succulent abalones grow near the 40 degrees south latitude. The southern Australian coastline provides the perfect growing environment for wild abalone – cold and clean oceanic waters with seaweed in abundance for the wild abalones to feed on, resulting in succulent and tasty abalone meat prized by discerning diners from all corners of the globe.

Caught by hand

Australian Wild Abalone® is harvested directly from the ocean floor (not farmed) – the abalone retains its original wild taste, the way nature intended. Experienced abalone divers brave the cold and shark infested waters to hand select the finest quality abalones for delivery to the processing premises. Click on the video link below to watch one of our divers in action, or visit our YouTube Channel to find out more about the abalone industry in Australia.

There are four abalone species commercially harvested from Australian waters – black-lip, green-lip, brown-lip and roei.

One of the most distinguishing features of Australian Wild Abalone is its large size; Australian wild abalone abalone shells can grow over twenty centimetres in length. The industry complies with legal minimum length requirements set by the government. This is to ensure sustainability of wild fish stocks. These requirements depend on the species and the location they are caught.

When choosing Australian Wild Abalone, customers are getting a larger, more tasty fish – that fresh clean taste that is only found in wild abalone caught by hand from the clean cool waters of the Southern Ocean.

Information about each species and a map showing where they are harvested may be found here.

These species are available in a range of export-approved product formats: raw (uncooked) and cooked, fresh or frozen, naturally pigmented or with pigment removed.

For information on different product formats, please click below:

1. LIVE, DRIED AND CHILLED
2. RETORT, FROZEN AND CANNED

Please note that some AWA® Suppliers sell additional product types not listed  – for more information please click on the AWA® approved supplier links above.

Blacklip abalone grows across
southern Australia on rocky reefs
and are commercially harvested
in South Australia, Tasmania,
Victoria and New South Wales.

Greenlip abalone generally occur on lower profile reef systems near a sand/reef edge in waters with high tidal flow.

Brownlip abalone are found on rocky
reefs in deeper water along Western
Australia’s coastline south
from Rottnest Island

Roei abalone generally occur on shallow inshore reef platforms and are distributed south from Shark Bay in Western Australia around to the westernmost waters of South Australia.

Abalone Council Australia Ltd

Dean Lisson – CEO
[email protected]

Melinda Caspersz – ACA Secretariat
[email protected]
Ph 03 9586 6066

Abalone Council Australia
PO Box 8006
CARRUM DOWNS VIC 3201

Web: www.abalonecouncil.com.au  

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