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Book chapter
Production of Pearls
Goods and Services of Marine Bivalves, pp.73-93
Springer
2019
Abstract
The pearl is known as the queen of jewels, and has been used for adornment and as a symbol of material wealth throughout human history. Pearls are formed by the secretion of nacre from epidermal cells within mollusc mantle tissue. But particular conditions are required for loose natural pearls to form and this occurrence is rare. However, utilization of this process for cultured pearl production now supports industries in more than 30 countries including China, Japan, Australia, Indonesia, French Polynesia, Philippines, Cook Islands, Thailand, Malaysia, India, Sri Lanka, Myanmar and Mexico, of which China has the largest production. Analysis of FAO global statistics shows that in the past decade (from 2005 to 2014), the average annual output of Chinese pearls was 3540 tonnes (t) valued at 15 million USD. This output accounted for over 98% of global cultured pearl output, of which freshwater pearls accounted for 99.5%. Japan has been the world's major marine pearl producer for over a century, and has developed advanced technology in pearl oyster culture and pearl production. In the past decade, the average annual value of marine cultured pearl production in Japan was 127 million USD, accounting for 51.6% of global pearl output value. Average annual production of marine cultured pearls was 23 t in Japan, 18.6 t in China and 12.9 t in French Polynesia. Chinese pearl production is typified by a high-yield, low-value industry structure. Overall, global pearl production fell by 60% while output value fell by 39% over the past decade. Cultured pearl production typically includes five stages: oyster selection, nucleus implanting, nurturing, harvesting and pearl processing, of which nucleus implantation is the key step. Compared with other aquaculture sectors, pearl production has a complex process and a relatively long farming cycle which make it economically risky. Pressures to increase production, as well as external pressures such as urbanization, have placed pressures on the pearling industry that require appropriate management practices that support sustainable industry growth.
Details
- Title
- Production of Pearls
- Authors
- Changbo Zhu (Author) - Ministry of Agriculture, ChinaPaul C Southgate (Author) - University of the Sunshine Coast - Faculty of Science, Health, Education and EngineeringTing Li (Author) - Ministry of Agriculture, People's Republic of China
- Contributors
- Aad C Small (Editor)Joao G Ferreira (Editor)Jon Grant (Editor)Jens K Peterson (Editor)Øivind Strand (Editor)
- Publication details
- Goods and Services of Marine Bivalves, pp.73-93
- Publisher
- Springer
- Date published
- 2019
- DOI
- 10.1007/978-3-319-96776-9_5; 10.1007/978-3-319-96776-9
- ISBN
- 9783319967769
- Copyright note
- Copyright © The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s) 2019 Open Access This book is licensed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license and indicate if changes were made
- Organisation Unit
- School of Science and Engineering - Legacy; Australian Centre for Pacific Islands Research; University of the Sunshine Coast, Queensland; School of Science, Technology and Engineering
- Language
- English
- Record Identifier
- 99450993602621
- Output Type
- Book chapter
- Research Statement
- false
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