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

10 spat collectors were attached at intervals along a 100 m longline made of 12 mmpolypropylene rope. The most commonly used collector comprised a 0.8 m 2 panel of55% shade mesh, folded concertina-fashion, threaded and tied in a bundle withmonofilament line. Spat collectors were deployed every three months, and harvestedsix months later.The longline to which collectors were attached was positioned perpendicular to thereef, with one end tied off to coral heads at approximately 5 m depth, and the otheranchored in approximately 25 m water depth. Anchor lines and sub-surface buoys, at20 m intervals, were used to hold the longline at a depth of 3 m (Figure 4).Figure 3. Sites used in the study of spat collection around Solomon Islands.Figure 4. Arrangement of spat collectors and longlines at each of the collection sites.5