How to Start a Pearl Farming Business

Pearls are those pristine, precious dewdrops that continue to fascinate you no matter how many times you look at them. They are the most beautiful gems available to us and their stunningly aesthetic beauty is the reason why they are so popular around the world. Have you ever wondered how do these beautiful and awe-inspiring pearls originate? While the natural pearls are simply found in seas shells, the cultured pearls are made with an intricate process, over a period of time. The making of pearls is as smooth and delicate a process as the pearls themselves. Pearl farming is a profitable venture that can reap up to 200 per cent profit with no tax deductions. Anyone interested? Read on to know about various aspects of pearl farming.

Pearl farming, a lesser known practice, but certainly a lucrative business, unfortunately, hasn’t caught the fancy of Indian entrepreneurs as yet. Predominatly so, due to lack of awareness and technology.

In the absence of any takers willing to breathe life into the pearl producing oysters, India, which was once known to produce the finest ‘oriental pearls’, imports pearls worth $ 4 million every year now.

After pearl fishery was stopped in India four decades ago, as a step to put a check on the depleting resources of natural pearls, production of pearl came to an apparent halt while countries like China, Japan, Australia, Tahiti and Indonesia, the biggest producers and exporters of pearl, took to pearl culture in a big way. In fact, pearl culture is one of the main cultivation's in China and Japan.

Pearl is a natural gem and is produced by a mollusc. While the demand of pearls in India and elsewhere is increasing, their supplies from nature have reduced due to over exploitation and pollution. India is importing a large amount of cultured pearls every year from international market to meet the domestic demand. The Central Institute of Freshwater Aquaculture, Bhubaneswar has developed the technology of Freshwater Pearl Culture from common freshwater mussels, which are widely distributed in freshwater habitats throughout the country.

In nature, a pearl is formed when a foreign particle viz., piece of sand, insects, etc. by chance enters into the body of mussel and the mussel can not reject that out and instead makes a shiny coating on the particle layer by layer. This simple phenomenon is being exploited in pearl culture practices.

The pearl is similar to the inner shining layer of shell called ‘mother of pearl layer’ or nacre, constituted by calcium carbonate, organic matrix and water. The pearls available in the market could be artificial, natural or cultured. Artificial or imitation pearls are not pearls but pearl-like materials that simply contain a rigid, round core or base and an outer pearly coating. In natural pearls the core or nucleus is minute with thick pearl nacre. Generally, a natural pearl is small in size and irregular in shape.

A cultured pearl is also a natural pearl, the only difference being the human intervention in surgical implantation of a live mantle graft and nucleus for hastening pearl formation to the desired size, shape, color and luster. In India, three species of commonly available freshwater mussels viz., Lamellidens marginalis, L. corrianus and Parreysia corrugata found to produce good quality pearl

How Natural pearl forms:

A natural pearl is formed when some form of irritant lodges itself into a mussel (freshwater oyster). To protect itself from the irritant, the mussel secretes a fluid to coat the foreign element. And over a period of few months or a year or two, layers of coating are formed on the irritant and thus a lustrous pearl is formed.

Pearl is basically calcium carbonate deposit within the soft tissue of shelled oyster.

However, pearl formation procedure is different in cultured pearls. In freshwater pearl farming, mussels are nucleated through surgery which initiates the process of pearl formation.

The process starts with collecting mussels from river, which are then put under pre-operative care to help the mussels adapt to the new environment. The mussels are then operated upon and nucleus is implanted between its soft tissue. Subsequent to the surgery, mussels are put under post-operative care, also called the ICU stage.

Post recovery, mussels are put in a pond, where they are tended to while pearls take shape inside the shell.

Depending on the type of mussel, pearl formation can take anywhere between a few months and several years.

The last stage comprises harvesting pearls. Pearls are extracted from the mussels, which are washed, cleaned and certified by gemmologists before they are sold.

Types of pearls:

Natural Pearls, are formed by nature without instigation from human being. Natural pearl are formed around an irritant, such as a grain of sand, a piece of coral or seashell. Today, true natural pearls are the most rare, consequently considered the most valuable pearls, or already become part of antique jewelry.

Cultured Pearls, generally are formed the same way as natural pearls. The only difference, is the irritant introduced by man ( the nucleus is inserted into the oyster by man) and the oysters are raised in a controlled environment, on mussel farms. Nowadays, the great majority of pearls sold are cultured pearls.

Japanese Cultured Pearls, are originally associated with The Japanese Cultured Pearl Industry (like Akoya pearl, Mikimoto Pearl). Colors include white, cream, gold, rose. The sizes are generally smaller than south sea pearls. Large sized pearls are rare.

Freshwater Cultured Pearls, are farmed in freshwater and grown in mussels. The irritants and the oysters used in making freshwater pearls are smaller than saltwater pearls. Freshwater pearls cultivating technique usually produce twenty or more pearls in one oyster, and it only takes one and a half years to two years to harvest.

Saltwater Cultured Pearls, are farmed in saltwater, and grown in oysters. Only one pearl is grown per oyster. It need more than two years and a half to get a good harvest (it means the pearls already have thick nacre). That causes saltwater pearl farming are more expensive than freshwater pearl. The colors are white, cream, yellow, gold, silver, rose and black. Countries known as producer of saltwater pearl are Burma, Indonesia, Thailand, and Philippines in South East Asia; Australia and Tahiti in South Pacific, especially in Tahiti, you'll find the beautiful black pearls.

Keshi Pearls, are very small pearl byproduct of the pearl culturing process. If debris enters an oyster while it's open during the harvesting process, the oyster covers the debris with nacre, thus creating keshi pearls.

Mabe Pearls, are created when human attaches a plastic dome to the inside shell of an oyster, which reacts by covering the dome with nacre. When harvested the mabe is cut off from the shell, and the inside filled with plastic or other material, to give more weight, and the mother pearl are placed on the back of the mabe pearls.

Mother of The Pearl, is not actual pearl, it is the shiny coating that can be seen on the inside of an oyster. All shell that have ability to create a pearl will have mother of the pearl coating present.

Pearl Cultivation Process:

Natural Pearls

Natural pearls are formed when a type of microscopic irritant makes its way into the mussel or oyster accidentally and settles inside the shell.The irritant can be a particle of food, a piece of shell, bacteria or even a sand granule. The protective process begins when mussel or oyster secretes nacre that covers the irritant. The nacre is continuously secreted, which keeps forming layers over the irritant. This results in the formation of a pearl. This process takes years before a pearl is formed.

Cultured Pearls
Sea Water Cultured Pearls

The making of cultured pearls involves selection of healthy parent oysters to breed quality oysters. The oyster must have a thick shell and good appearance from the interior. Baby oysters take about 2 years to reach maturity. During this period of time, they are safely kept in holding sea buckets, at locations where fresh water enters the sea. This process helps in providing nutrients to the oysters. The next step involves inserting the base of nucleus in the oyster, around which the pearl will develop. This base is made from pigtoe, a freshwater mussel shell. The pigtoe has a very good chance of success in the Akoya oyster, because of the similarity between the two.

The oysters are set on the land for a short period of 30 minutes. They open their shells during this time. When the shells open, the nucleus is surgically transferred to the inside of the oyster. The oyster containing nucleus is then put back into the sea basket. The sea basket provides mobility to the oysters, when they are to be guarded against predators or variations in temperature, which can adversely affect the pearl formation process. Sudden temperature changes can fiddle with the quality of pearl or even cause the oysters to die. The pearl inside the oyster takes around 2-4 years to grow completely. The exact cultivation time depends upon the desired quality and size of the pearl.

Freshwater Cultured Pearls

Fresh water pearls are also created in the same way as sea water pearls. The only difference between the two is that in case of the latter, the nucleus for the pearl is made from mantle tissue, instead of the pigtoe. More than one piece of mantle may also be inserted for the growth of the pearl.

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