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

Table 4. Summary of implantation and harvesting activities at the WorldFish Centerexperimental pearl farm.Year Month Batch 1 Batch 2 Batch 3 Batch 41997 September Implanted19981999 April Harvested Implanted2000 October Harvested Implanted20012002 April Harvested Implanted7.2 Bead sizesIn the first seeding, 1644 spat-reared shell were implanted with nuclei of 2.0 to 2.4BU (6.06-7.27 mm). In subsequent years a greater range of bead sizes were selectedby the seeding technicians (Figure 16). Similar sizes could be implanted at the twoApril seedings, while it was possible to implant slightly larger nuclei in the singleOctober seeding. This may relate to observations discussed in section 2.3 above,suggesting that the spawning peak is in September, allowing for empty gonads for theOctober seeding.50.0045.00Beads used (% of total)40.0035.0030.0025.0020.0015.0019992000200210.005.000.002.22.32.42.52.62.72.83.03.23.33.43.53.63.73.84.04.24.44.54.74.8Nucleus size (BU)Figure 16. Nucleus sizes used during operations in 1999 (1203 total shell seeded),2000 (2113 total shell seeded) and 2002 (2289 total shell seeded).20