Zajac, however, says he wouldn't see a profit for at least six years into the operation. Raised from seedling to the marketable size of three inches, the shellfish take three years to grow. Some environmentalists say the abalone will devour too much kelp and dissolved oxygen in the water, stripping the San Mateo County Harbor and the Monterey Bay kelp forests. According to Coastal Commission estimates, the four farms will require between 2.7 and 4.3 tons of kelp per day to feed the voracious little critters. Each ab consumes about 5 percent to 10 percent of its body weight daily.
Local environmentalists disagree.
The extra kelp required to feed the abalone could triple the existing regional demand, says Vicki Nichols, executive director of Save Our Shores. This will further add to the use conflicts between local divers and commercial kelp harvesters, Nichols says, because this is where many of the harvesters are anchored. All that eating has another, predictable result. Fishermen worry that the abs will produce too much fecal waste, poisoning the fish and crabs along the harbor floor, which has proved to be a problem for East Coast fish farms. Between the four facilities, the abalone will excrete about 60 percent of what they eat.