Native people used the oyster shells they had collected for making various instruments, ornaments, and above all, for fishing lures and hooks. On the other hand, pearls were not held in high esteem, no doubt because of the difficulty of piercing holes in them. Today, the Territory has high hopes of the economic future of the pearl.
At the beginning of the 19th century almost 1,500 tones of the world oyster shell production were used for the button-making industry. About 1850, supplies waned, partly because local and foreign ships raked the oyster beds mercilessly. At that time the lagoons were so rich in excellent pearl oysters that men could collect hundreds of kilos per day, standing in water only waist deep.
For decades, the production remained the same, for as the easier areas became exhausted, men dived deeper and deeper for their catch. The button industry started to use polyester in 1955 and prices fell, but gradually, a more permanent but less spectacular demand developed because it was impossible to imitate the beauty of real mother-of-pearl.
Pearl fishing used to be organized at special times or diving seasons. A diver could go down deeper than 40 meters a hundred times a day. All this effort was concentrated on mother-of-pearl, as natural pearls were hardly ever found.
The population of whole islands would migrate temporarily to atolls which were often deserted for the rest of the year.
After having escaped the perils of natural selection, the oyster attaches itself to various inanimate supports. In fact, it is a form of defense reaction that produces the pearl.
When faced with a foreign body, a small parasite or a grain of sand, the secreting organ of the shell, the mantle, isolates the intruder by forming a layer of mother-of-pearl which will then give birth to a pearl or a half-pearl. It was by observing this reaction that the Japanese perfected their pearl-culture techniques which are now used throughout French Polynesia.
In the course of what can rightly be called a surgical operation, the grafter introduces a small bone marble or nucleus into a special part of the three to four year old mollusk, and it plays the role of the intruder; next, the oyster is hooked on to a platform several meters deep for a few years.
As pearl production has meant that more and more living pearl oysters ready for grafting are needed, the Territory's natural stocks have been subject to intense harvesting and most of the lagoons have come close to total depletion.
Yet in 1870, the French government had sent a biologist to investigate the reasons for diminishing supplies and to suggest a remedy, at a time when divers were still collecting 200 kilos a day. This scientist stated that it should be possible to raise oysters by grouping spats on supports placed in the water when the reproduction season is at its peak. What's more, a conclusive experiment was carried out at that time. However, it was not until 1954 that the Fisheries Department brought technical assistance. This method, widely practiced in the Tuamotu Islands, has increased mother-of-pearl production.
Unfortunately, another danger threatens the industry today in the form of a disease which attacks the pearl oyster. According to ORSTOM research scientists, pollution of some oyster bearing lagoons could be responsible for this disaster. Other biologists blame the use of resistant marine paints used to protect boats from corrosion.
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