Southern hemisphere's biggest abalone producer formed from four-farm merger

Four premium Australian abalone farms have been amalgamated into a single entity, Yumbah Aquaculture.

Combining Southseas Abalone operations at Port Lincoln and Kangaroo Island in South Australia, Bicheno on Tasmania’s East Coast, and Narrawong -- near Portland in Victoria’s south-west -- makes Yumbah the largest abalone producer in the southern hemisphere, supplying more than 500 metric tons of premium abalone each year.

Gary Higgins, chairman of the privately-held Yumbah Aquaculture, said the company would soon be turning out 700 metric tons, more than 80 percent of which is exported to China and other Asian markets, the west coast of the United States and Canada, and Europe.

“With