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

Wages in formal jobs in rural areas range from SB$30-50 per day for semi-skilled toSB$100-$150 per day for skilled workers. The legal minimum wage in agriculture, whichincludes mariculture, is SB$3.80 per hour or about SB$30 per day.An oyster farm could expect to recruit all its unskilled and semi-skilled workers locally –this would greatly assist with maintaining harmonious relationships with localcommunities - and not be involved in transporting them to and from annual leave.Workers housed on site would receive free basic housing, water, sanitation and lighting.Supervisory and junior management pay in rural-based formal employment is in therange SB$30,000-$100,000 a year, plus free housing, water and electricity.4.4 Environmental impact assessment.Farming of pearl oysters will require an application for development consent under theEnvironment Act, 1998. The Director of Environment may require the preparation of apublic environmental report or an environmental impact assessment, which would bepublished. After periods for public reaction to such report or assessment have elapsed theDirector may issue the development consent with or without conditions, or may refuseconsent. Given the need for environmental care in the rearing of oysters and the relativelysmall scale of the shoreside installations required, it is unlikely that environmentalobjections would arise in this case.Pearl farmers operating in Solomon Islands will also be encouraged to submit anenvironmental management plan (EMP) or code of practice (COP) as part of their licenceapplication. The purpose of the EMP or COP is to reassure the Fisheries Ministry that theoperator is cognisant of the environmental risks of pearl farming, will minimise theenvironmental impacts of the operation, and has considered measures that may need to betaken in response to factors such as mass mortalities or disease outbreaks. It is expectedthat the presentation of an EMP or COP as part of the licence application will largelyobviate the need for a separate EIA by the Ministry of Environment.5 Policy, Regulation and Management guidelinesDevelopment of sound policy and regulation is essential to the successful and long termestablishment of pearl farming in Solomon Islands (see Appendix VI). In other countries,poor control of the industry has eventually led to problems and low-quality pearlsentering the market chain have lowered the overall reputation of the industry. The FrenchPolynesian authorities have attempted to put in place an industry code of practice, anactive pearl marketing campaign that serves the industry as a whole, and a comprehensivesystem of quality control and certification, in which each pearl is sold along with an X-ray demonstrating the nacre thickness, as well as a government certificate of authenticity.These measures may have helped slow down the falling image and value of FrenchPolynesian pearls, but have not completely arrested it, and the industry continues todecline. There is still a great deal of leakage, with large volumes of poor quality pearls21