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Pearl oyster farming and pearl culture

Regional Seafarming Development and Demonstration Project

Year of publication 1991

Pages p. 104

Author Mr. Pedro Bueno, Mr. Alessandro Lovatelli and Prof. H.P.C. Shetty ;Fisheries and Aquaculture Management Division

Product type Project

Edition 1

Synopsis (short abstract) Pearls, one of the highly esteemed gems, are very valuable due to the high demand and prices for them. Several countries bordering the Indian and Pacific Oceans and some countries along the Eastern Atlantic Ocean have pearl oyster resources. Many of these countries, particularly those in Asia, are very much interested in pearl oyster farming and pearl culture. Japan stands foremost in the two fields having developed technologies and innovations in the field. The techniques of pearl oyster farm ing and pearl culture are not widely known. There is a need to promote more widely the techniques and relevant information on the bionomics of pearl oysters. In India, interest in pearl culture began at the start of this century. Several studies have been conducted by the Madras Fisheries Department in the 1930s. In 1972, the Central Marine Fisheries Research Institute (CMFRI) took up intensive research on pearl culture at Tuticorin achieving a breakthrough in July 1973 when it produced free s pherical cultured pearls by employing the mantle graft implementation technique. Since then intensive research has been carried out by the Institute on pearl formation, pearl oyster biology and ecology, and hatchery techniques for production of pearl oyster seed. Considerable information of applied value has been obtained. The development of the pearl oyster hatchery technology in India in 1981 opened the way for large and commercial scale culture of this bivalve species. Based on the technica l know-how provided by the CMFRI, a company has been established at Tuticorin to produce cultured pearls.

Language English

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