 The pāua are considered adults around 6 cm in size and are then fed on a meal based diet until they are ready for processing and sale.To produce pāua pearls the pāua are harvested from the wild stocks (at the legal size of 12.5 cm), shell or plastic based implants are either poked through the shell or fixed in place under the shell with glue, the shape of the insert dictates the shape of the final pearl.After the pāua are “nucleated” they are kept in tanks for 2 to 3 years and fed on either seaweed or meal during which time they coat the insert with nacre .