The Abalone Farmers

Apparently the word is out about what’s hiding under Wharf Two.

For years Monterey Abalone Company went about their clever farming undetected by everybody but the sea lions trying to shoulder in on their rickety wood floors to take a nap and a number two (which is why the floors retract). MAC grows abalone on plastic panels in otter proof cages they stuff with sustainably havested red kelp (for food) and dangle in the bay beneath the pier (for clean, oxygen-rich and nourishing waters), cultivating California red abalone for years before they’re shipped live around the country. And they do it all in a damp hand-built space no one else can put to much use.

The Weekly spotlighted them in 2007. Now they’re not only the dream protein for chefs like David Kinch of James Beard perennial Manresa (see sidebar, opposite page), they’re full blown media darlings, appearing on Discovery Channel’s Dirty Jobs, in the San Francisco Chronicle and on a restaurant-makeover Food Network show by Tricon Films & Television. It’s not because co-owner/operator Trevor Fay organized a full-blown abalone race as part of the Japanese American Heritage Days last month. Like Assemblyman Mark Stone, D – Monterey Bay, explained as he named them 2014’s Best Small Business in California’s 29th District just this week, it’s because they honor local identity, nurture Mama Nature and sow healthy commerce at the same time.

“They’re a business that represents so much of what Monterey Bay is about,” says Stone, who once free dove for abalone. “Not just seafood, but using resources appropriately, providing a sustainable product, filling a need, and doing it in an innovative and interesting way with the the least impact. They’re all about conservation and sustainability but they have a strong economic model. It’s the best of both worlds.”

For more about Monterey Abalone Company, visit www.montereyabalone.com