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

Abundance, Size Structure and Quality of Silver-lip Pearl Oysters in the Solomon Islands Final, June 2008and individuals found on soft sediments are thought to have been displaced to thesehabitats after detachment of their byssus (Gervis and Sims 1992) or to be attached to brokenshells, coral fragments or pebbles embedded in the sediment (Hynd 1957 in Colgan 1993).The largest area of good habitat appears to be through Hamilton Channel at Waghina and itis this that probably makes it the best potential site from silver-lip, even though it currentlyhas a low population density. However, the economic production of pearls is dependent onthe availability of suitable culture sites, reliable sources of oysters, funding to establish andoperate the farm, grafting technicians and a market for the pearls. The layman’s manual onbasic methods of pearl farming indicates that it is not profitable to hire a grafting technicianunless there are at least 3,000 pearl oysters of the right size and condition in which toimplant nuclei (Haws 2002). As the three major fishing grounds surveyed in the SolomonIslands were estimated to contain between 1,392 and 8,638 silver-lip pearl oysters of anappropriate size, it would appear that there are insufficient stocks at present to support aviable pearl production industry based on the harvest of wild shell and that it isinappropriate at this stage to make any quota available for commercial operations.The Ecology Lab Pty Ltd – Marine and Freshwater Studies Page 14