Lu Ao nodded. "I'm planning to raise abalone in the Marine Ranch, mainly by seeding them on the seafloor in an environment modeled on the wild. Raising abalone from Oceania might affect the local ecosystem."
Old Xu smiled. "If you release them straight into the sea, that could indeed be a problem. The government doesn't really allow it, either."
"Right. That's why I want to raise local abalone."
"The local abalone here have been improved, too. They're bred from Wrinkled Disk Abalone by the province's Benthic Biology Laboratory. You can raise them in the wild without worrying about an invasive species."
Lu Ao looked around. "Where are the Wrinkled Disk Abalone? Let me see."
"They're in the last pond. But I should tell you upfront: they're not especially profitable. Not many people around here raise them, and they might be harder to sell. They're much smaller than abalone from Oceania when fully grown, so the final harvest and returns won't be the same as Ocean Abalone."
Lu Ao had looked into abalone farming and was prepared for that. He looked at Old Xu. "It's fine. I know what to expect."
Old Xu relaxed a little, and his voice grew brighter. "Good. I'll take you over to see them. I've been raising these local abalone for quite a while. Most are over a centimeter long, so you can put them straight into an abalone farming area without raising them separately first. You'll see for yourselves. You won't lose out buying seed stock from me."
When they got there, Old Xu scooped up some young abalone with a dip net nearby.
The mesh was very fine. Inside were abalone no bigger than buttons.
The local abalone weren't as colorful as Ocean Abalone. Their shells were dull gray and had little sheen, but