Designer pearls set to get a leg up

Central Marine Fisheries Research Institute has developed a technology to artificially produce designer pearls

The Kerala government has planned to encourage the production of designer pearls in a big way as the demand for jewellery made out of pearls is on the increase in India and other Asian countries. Kerala Minister for Fisheries K Babu said here today.

He said, the Central Marine Fisheries Research Institute (CMFRI) had developed a technology to artificially produce designer pearls in a controlled natural circumstance. The Fisheries Department will initiate production of pearls once the technology proves to be economically viable. He added that aquaculture of pearls would be a great opportunity for the people living in the coastal belt and would be of great financial help to them.

Kerala has natural beds for the growth of pearl and CMFRI had found several such areas along the coast. Pinctada fucata, a mollusc that produces golden pearls, which has a high demand across the world, is abundant in the Gulf of Mannar, Palk Bay, Gulf of Kutchch and, Andaman and Nicobar Islands. He said that the Kerala Fisheries department had started a pilot project to produce pearl at Vizhinjam, near Thiruvananthapuram in 1976, but wound it up in 1984 due to the high cost of production.

The most valuable pearls occur spontaneously in the wild, but they are extremely rare. These wild pearls are referred to as natural pearls. Cultured or farmed pearls from pearl oysters and freshwater mussels make up majority of those that are presently sold. Pearls have been harvested and cultivated primarily for use in jewelry and have also been used in cosmetics, medicines and in paint formulations.

Now CMFRI has developed the technology to produce designer pearls in a big way. This has a very high demand across the world. The total global annual business for pearls is $3 billion and India imports pearls worth $4 million annually. There is a good market for pearl in India and local production can reduce the prices substantially.

Through the technology developed by CMFRI, designer pearl nucleus (foreign body) is implanted in oysters having a size of 7 cm. Later these are nurtured in specially-protected bays and developed through a process called Raft Culture. The minister said that hatcheries across Kerala can be transformed to develop implanted oysters. Later these can be shifted to protected bays in the coastal sea.

He added, the government plans to set up such centres across the coastal belt as there is good dem-and for pearls. This will be of great relief to fishermen in the state.