Who ever thinks that abalone are just some boring old giant snails should take a look at what the wholesale abalone market racks up in an average quarter. They may be slow moving and slimy on the ocean floor, in kelps beds, and on the side of a coral reef, but they sure move fast in wholesale abalone auctions, even at fifty dollars a pound.
We can't explain why the prices demanded when selling wholesale abalone are so easily met, other than to say that people love the stuff all over the world, and for a long time it was really not that easy to get unless you lived right next to an ocean that happened to be their home. The wholesale abalone sales of today have likely doubled or tripled over those of ten, or even five years ago, but so has the development of abalone farming, and even though the wholesale market continues to expand, conservationists, government agencies, and abalone fishermen now work more closely together and with more sophisticated resources to help preserve habitat and re-establish healthy fisheries.