The Place
At the beginning of the Chilean Patagonia, in the town of Corral, there is an area called‘Los Liles’ where the ‘Pacífico Austral’s abalone farm is located among the beauty and clean water of Pacific Ocean coasts.

The purity of the water added to the ideal temperature conditions and the presence of seaweed’s prairies were important factors in deciding about the site for the abalone farm.

The cold seawater which temperature fluctuates within 10 to 16ºC is pumped and filtered before being distributed to the culture ponds where abalones remain. The high rate of water treatment guarantees the maintenance of the appropriated conditions for the abalones to feed and grow-out in proper conditions.

Production
The ‘Los Liles’ farm has a production capacity of 40 tons per year. The abalone farm operations began at the beginning of 2004 and it will accomplish its highest production on the first semester of 2007.

Nowadays we mainly culture red abalone (Haliotis rufescens) using race way technology for the ponds located on ground. Culture tests are being carried out with green or Japanese abalone (Haliotis discus hannai), these tests are showing positive results.

Every current environmental regulation is being fulfilled by our abalone farm, as well as the development of culture techniques in order to cause a minimum environmental impact. On the other hand, a Sustainable Development Program is being implemented to allow the conservation of a well-balanced environment and to foster the growth of human population who live in the nearby areas.

Quality
During the growing stage our abalones are fed with a 100% natural diet, therefore we obtain a soft flavored and compact meat with a unique texture. Apart from all these characteristics the cold and clean waters of the Pacific Ocean allow us to obtain an abalone which can satisfy the most demanding taste.

Due to the large amount of brown seaweeds diet, the clean and cold water conditions and the low presence of minerals; the abalone’s shell shows beautiful colors fluctuating from green to red with Mother Pearl veins thus giving a unique beauty to our abalones.

In the present development stage, ‘Pacífico Austral’ buys seeds from two northern local suppliers, these seeds have sanitary certificates. At the beginning the seeds’ size is about 21mm. and they are fed with seaweeds (Macrocystis peryfera y Lessonia sp) which come from large prairies near the farm. It takes about 30 months for the seeds to reach the commercial interest size which is about 90-100 mm and 90 grams of weight.