Stimulating investment in pearl farming in ... - World Fish Center

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Abundance, Size Structure and Quality of Silver-lip Pearl Oysters in the Solomon Islands Final, June 2008overgrown by other biota. The maximum average number of “possible” live oysters foundper transect was one, suggesting that these animals are also scarce at depths of 35-50m.The low densities of silver-lip oysters observed in the underwater and remote visualcensuses suggest that stocks have not recovered to sustainable levels since fishing wasprohibited in 1994. The lack of small animals suggests that recruitment may haveconsistently failed during this period.As pearl oysters change from male to female as they age, most of the oysters found duringthe current and previous surveys undertaken in the Solomon Islands are likely to have beenfemale. The current assumed bias in the sex ratio may be partly responsible for a reductionin reproductive output and resulted in impaired, if not total recruitment failure.If historical over-exploitation has led to poor recruitment, recovery of the populations islikely to remain either be very slow or non-existent. It should be noted that some of theblack-lip pearl oyster stocks in the Cook Islands and French Polynesia, subjected to intensefishing during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, had not recovered fromover-exploitation by the 1980s. The fact that stocks in the Waghina region of the SolomonIslands have been subjected to three phases of exploitation suggests that some degree ofrecovery of fished stocks has occurred in the past. An alternative explanation for thisphasing is that changes in fishing method over that period have enabled divers to accessstocks in progressively deeper water.In conclusion, exploitation of silver-lip pearl oysters for pearl culture is not an ecologicallyor commercially viable option at present, because of the paucity of the stocks andunfavourable size of the majority of oysters. If the silver-lip pearl oyster stocks in theSolomon Islands do eventually recover from the last phase of commercial exploitation,management strategies that protect the recovered population will need to be implemented toprevent overfishing prior to any further exploitation.The Ecology Lab Pty Ltd – Marine and Freshwater StudiesPage ii
Abundance, Size Structure and Quality of Silver-lip Pearl Oysters in the Solomon Islands Final, June 20081.0 INTRODUCTION1.1 Background and AimsPearl oysters are highly valuable commodities that are either fished or farmed throughoutthe Indo-Pacific region for their shells, pearls and meat. This resource has proved to be avaluable source of employment and export income for small, less-developed countries,particularly French Polynesia and the Cook Islands. In French Polynesia, the productionand value of pearl oysters increased from 575 metric tons and US$37.77 million in 1990 to apeak of 11,364 metric tons and US$158.78 million in 2000 (SPC 2007). In the Cook Islands,the value of pearl oyster production over the same time period increased from NZ$4.9million to NZ$18.4 million. At the peak of production, approximately 7000 and 450 peoplewere employed in the industry in French Polynesia and the Cook Islands, respectively.Although production of pearl oysters in these regions has subsequently declined, the mostrecent figures indicate that production in the Cook Islands was valued at NZ$3.2 Million in2004 and that from French Polynesia had a value of US$126.5 million in 2005. In the CookIslands and French Polynesia, production is based entirely on cultivated black pearl(Pinctada margaritifera) stocks. Small-scale production of black pearl oysters also occurs inSolomon Islands, Fiji Islands, Marshall Islands, Tonga and the Federated States ofMicronesia (SPC 2002). Silver-lip pearl oysters (Pinctada maxima), also known as white-lip orgold-lip pearl oyster) are farmed in Australia and Papua New Guinea, but not in the SouthPacific.The European Union has recently funded a project entitled ‘Stimulating investment in pearlfarming in Solomon Islands’. The primary objective of this project is to provide offshorepearl companies with sufficient information to determine the potential for long-terminvestment in pearl farming in Solomon Islands. Information on the following aspects iscurrently being compiled for this project:• Publications on the availability and culture of black-lip pearl oysters in Solomon Islands;• Availability and quality of silver-lip pearl oyster resources in Solomon Islands;• Availability of suitable habitats and environmental conditions for the growth of black-lipand silver-lip pearl oysters in Solomon Islands and pearl-producing regions of the SouthPacific;• The investment climate in the Solomon Islands;• Policy guidelines for the development of environmentally and financially sustainablepearl farming in the Solomon Islands; and• Offshore pearl companies most likely to consider investing in pearl farming in SolomonIslands.In February 2007, The WorldFish Center commissioned The Ecology Lab Pty Ltd to providevarious consultancy services for the EU project including:• Assist WorldFish staff conduct interviews with coastal communities to identify andmap the historical major fishing grounds for silver-lip pearl oysters in SolomonIslands;The Ecology Lab Pty Ltd – Marine and Freshwater Studies Page 1
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Stimulating investment in pearlfarm
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Appendix IAppendix IIAppendix IIIAp
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various project elements to describ
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PNGSolomon IsPNGCook IsVanuatuFijiF
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Figure 2. Typical coastal habitat f
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to work alongside WorldFish science
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least two weeks before the main sur
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duration of the dive, maximum botto
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3.7 Natural disastersEnvironmental
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• Legislative review is underway
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− Manning Strait islands− Suava
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incentive treatment that fits the l
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continuing to enter the market. Thi
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Provisions for further aquaculture
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• licences will relate to a parti
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species in Australia are 5 - 10 tim
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6.3 Investor’s recommendations fo
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Report on an EU project grant to th
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Summary• Historically, the blackl
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1. IntroductionBlacklip pearl oyste
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3. Nationwide surveysIn May-June 20
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10 spat collectors were attached at
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On a local scale, it was found that
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3025Normalised catch201510500 2 4 6
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30Spat collector -125201510a. NoroL
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Figure 10. The number of Cymatium,
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Figure 11. Intermediate culture tra
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% survival10090HatcheryWild80706050
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Thus, under the regime developed in
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7.3 Retention and mortality after s
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7.5 Seeding of hatchery-produced sp
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have used average values of $25, $3
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9. ReferencesBraley, R.D. 1997. Fin
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depend mainly on the quality of the
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Report to:World Fish CenterSuitabil
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Suitability of Habitats for Growth
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Report to:World Fish CenterWater Te
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Water Temperature and Cyclone Frequ
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Water Temperature and Cyclone Frequ
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Despite its present weaknesses, eff
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payments, but the authorities have
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to recede and presumably vanish und
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outcome is far from certain. There
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existing links, at locations within
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6. Forms of co-investment6.1 Partne
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8. Taxation and incentives8.1 Direc
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10. Labour laws10.1 Foreign workers
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GILLETT, PRESTON AND ASSOCIATES INC
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Page 21. EXECUTIVE SUMMARYPearl far
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Page 42. BACKGROUNDPast research su
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Page 6million; in 2002, it exported
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Page 8the bead in an even, uniform
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Page 10alternative products. Most m
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Page 12fisheries-related activities
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Page 144.3. PolicyThe current gover
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5.2. Stocking densityPage 16Mature
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Page 18or harmful fouling organisms
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Page 20In addition to licensing und
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Page 22Much of this work will have
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Page 24provide them with technical
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Page 26management, disease control,
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Page 28Ministry of Development Plan
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Page 30‘seeding’ means the impl
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Page 326. Provision of statistical
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Page 3414. Aggrieved person may app
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Page 36Division V. Importation, mov
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Page 38(2) Separate fees are payabl
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Page 40Other forms of government su
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Page 42Solomon IslandsPEARL FARMING
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