CIBJO recently released its eighth Special Report, this one prepared by the CIBJO Pearl Commission, headed by Kenneth Scarratt. The release took place with less than three weeks left for the opening of the 2019 CIBJO Congress, scheduled to be held in Manama, Bahrain, on November 18, 2019.

The Pearl Commission’s Special Report examines “the growing impact of environmental and conservationist factors on the pearl sector, noting that these pose challenges but also provide opportunities for the industry”, CIBJO said when announcing the release.

The report cites the example of the Philippines, where, Scarratt notes, “climate and environmental changes have had a significant effect on pearl production”. These changes include greater fluctuations in water temperature, ocean acidification, and the changing of the plankton profile, which has affected the survival rate of certain batches of oysters, as well as the overall growth rate.

“These changes present both challenges and opportunities,” Scarratt said. “Obviously, the main challenge is the lower volume of production that will be available for distribution to the global market. On the other hand, this also serves as an opportunity because, with the lower biomass density, comes the potential to achieve a higher quality output."

An interesting observation of the report, which also looked at natural pearls, is that while nowadays, they are rare, they are most commonly a by-product of the seafood industry! The report observes that in this respect, natural pearls “could be subject to restrictions imposed by the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna (CITES), as is the case with the Queen conch, off the coast of Mexico”.

Scarratt notes: “One country where fishing specifically for natural pearl-producing oysters still takes place is Bahrain, the venue of 2019 CIBJO Congress. The waters around the island nation have been producing natural pearls for some 4,000 years and continue to do so to this day, in a variety of sizes, shapes, and colours.” He says this is the only type of pearling that takes place in the kingdom.

“The oyster variety located off the waters of Bahrain is Pinctada radiata, which is the same type of oyster being used to culture pearls at two facilities in the United Arab Emirates,” Scarratt emphasised. “A consequence of the production from the UAE is that one should no longer automatically assume that a pearl’s Pinctada radiata origin determines that it is natural.”