Let It Grow

Whenever we find ourselves wandering around a massive Chinese supermarket, we inevitably gawk at the price of dried abalone. The delicacy has never crossed our lips thanks to its exorbitant cost. But millions of Asian consumers are willing to fork over the pretty penny, in part due to the marine snail's reputation as an aphrodisiac.

That demand has caused serious problems in South Africa, where Chinese triads poach thousands of tons of abalone each year, often by swapping methamphetamine for...