Pearl Farming
Harvesting gems from the sea
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Pearl Farming
Harvesting gems from the sea
Tahitian cultured pearls are formed inside the
Pinctada margaritifera oyster (of the Cumingii
variety), which are found throughout the lagoons
of Polynesia. The densest populations are found
in the Tuamotu and Gambier Archipelagos. This
oyster is the only one in the world that is capable
of producing the vast array of colors that
characterize Tahitian pearls.
It takes an enormous amount of work to obtain
the beauty and perfection that have made
Tahitian pearls world renowned. It begins with the
collection of microscopic oyster spat, which are
raised till they are large enough to impregnate
with a shell nucleus. Around 18 months later,
pearls are delicately harvested. In all it takes years
of hope and long hours just to produce one pearl.
Read on to discover how pearl farmers cultivate
these astounding gems from the sea.
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Kamoka Perles,
in rhythm with nature
many pearl farms are scattered across the sublime lagoon
of Ahe, an atoll in Tuamotu Archipelago renowned for its
superior water quality. Here, at farms isolated between sea
and sky, men and women work passionately to create the
pearls of Tahiti.
P
atrick Humbert first arrived on Ahe atoll in the early 1970s and
lived there for several years with his family before finally settling
on Tahiti. He returned to the atoll in 1991 with plans to build a
pearl farm, an extremely ambitious project for an era when the
black pearl industry was in its infancy. His son, Josh Humbert who was
in his early 20s, came along for the adventure and soon began to learn,
among other things, the mysterious art of pearl grafting. Fascinated by
everything in the ocean, Josh studied Marine Biology for two years at University level; this schooling played little importance to him in comparison
to what he was to learn, hands-on in the field. In 2001, Patrick retired and
Josh, by then aged 29, bought the farm.
The workers of Kamoka aren’t just laborers, they live pearl farming. Here
everyone works and lives together side by side, day after day. The style of
life here is completely unique to any other, the separation between work
and personal life is vague, if not completely non-existent. In this context,
if the atmosphere isn’t cheerful, the entire chain of production is affected. Josh Humbert greatly values maintaining good humor at the farm:
at Kamoka respecting nature, the lagoon and its inhabitants is the goal;
to work with love and good-humor is a necessity. It’s therefore no surprise
that Kamoka’s pearls are widely reputed for their excellent quality. And
that’s not all: Kamoka prides itself on being ecologically sound. Every effort is made to make as little impact as possible on the environment and
to use renewable resources. Electricity is produced solely by wind generators and solar panels and every step of the process aims at respecting
the fragile natural habitat.
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A Day at the farm
A day at the farm begins by going out and getting the «collectors,» the
lines that the oysters are attached to and that hang about 7 meters below the lagoon’s surface. The lines hang from supports that are anchored
at the bottom of the lagoon at around 40 meters. Once the oysters from
these lines have been grafted, they are re-attached and sent back out
to the lagoon. Three months later, the same oysters return to the farm
and are hung from a platform in relatively shallow water. Here, hundreds
of colorful fish literally vacuum up all the little shells, algae and other
critters that have attached themselves to the oyster. It’s imperative that
these parasites be removed because they restrict the oyster from properly filtering its food, which it needs to grow its pearl. It takes about one
day for the fish to complete their job.
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Nearly four years of work to create one pearl
As soon as the oysters are ready to be grafted, they are removed from
the collectors. First they are sorted : the smaller ones are sent back to
the lagoon for a longer growth period and the more sizable ones are
prepared for the graft. On average it takes about two and a half years
for an oyster to reach graftable size. The graft is an extremely complicated operation, or so they say. . . At first glance it looks like a simple
incision in the gonad (the reproductive organ), the placement of the
graft tissue (a small piece of the mantle from another oyster) and
then the nucleus. At closer inspection, it becomes clear that without
a detailed understanding of oyster anatomy, highly developed dexterity and complete focus, it wouldn’t be worth an attempt. After the
minutely detailed graft, it takes another 16 months before the pearl
can be harvested. In all, it takes nearly four years of work to create
one pearl ! This ceaseless process, from the raising of the oyster to
the cleaning, to the graft and the harvest, sets the rhythm of life of
a farm. After the first harvest comes the second graft where a new
nucleus is placed in the gonad where a pearl has just been removed;
only oysters that produce quality pearls are grafted a second time. It
is possible to create up to four pearls consecutively within the same
oyster.
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Pearl farming :
It’s all in the family
A small house on stilts over the lagoon, far from the
beach on Makemo Atoll. Here, in nearly complete silence,
six pearl farmers are at work. At the end of the day 1000
oysters will be grafted.
The workers only talk when necessary. Vaiata breaks the silence in order
to tell us about some of the details of her work. She is 27 years old and it’s
her job to choose the most colorful oysters from which the graft tissue
will be taken; this will determine the color of the future pearls. Delicately
using a dentist’s mirror, Vaiata looks inside the oyster to see if it’s good
enough to choose. Like any respectable pearl farmer, she has worked at
every job in the chain of tasks that takes the pearls oysters from the lagoon and into the expert hands of the grafter. Today, after doing this sort
of work for ten years, she knows that she chose the right path.
In the year 2000 her mother (who worked as a middleman between farmers and pearl wholesalers) and her step father decided to open their
own farm. After their first harvest, they let go of their outside workers
and began to work as a family team. Today they are happy they made this
decision. Moana, the oldest brother began to read everything he could
find on the subject and studied the industry. Vetea, the younger brother
followed in his footsteps. The brothers and sister have been brought together by their oysters.
Brothers and sister have been brought
together by their oysters.
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Eight hours a day
For eight hours a day, the family repeat their assembly line type tasks and
nothing seems to be able to distract them. Vaiata doesn’t see how their
family closeness could harm their organization. For Moana, working with
the family means that it’s easier to clear up any problems that threaten
to stop up the machine. These young farmers weren’t actually born in Polynesia, they come from Corsica, but that doesn’t affect their connection
with this place. Their family spirit «against time and tide» maybe helps to
explain their happiness in isolation.
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Last year Vetea’s wife Christelle left her job as a civil servant in Tahiti
and now works by his side on the farm. Maui, the youngest family member on the farm, is only 19 years old. He’s not very talkative but he tells
us about his admiration for his charismatic cousin Moana who, despite
being asthmatic, can freedive down to 35 meters to get oyster baskets
and can hold his breath for an extraordinarily long time.
Nothing seems to be able to distract them
So is life on Teanuanua Beach Pearl farm. The family only stops working
for their month long vacations during the months of July and December. At this time a few meet in Tahiti to hit up Papeete’s shops and cinemas. When asked if one day the brothers and sister might travel farther
away, back to their Corsican roots Vaiata laughs, « Live in Corsica one
day ? Why not ? If we can farm pearls there… »
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Maki Maifano,
A
grafter
long as there are women,
“ As
there will be pearls !
“
good grafter will never tell you that he or she is a good grafter, it’s
their clients and colleagues who will tell you. In Ahe, everyone will
confide that Maki is the best. His results, as well as his reputation,
extend far beyond the reef of Ahe.
Maki was raised in Ahe, among the pearl farms where he has tried his hand
in every aspect of pearl farming. Today, he has over ten years of grafting
experience behind him. He began to learn his art at the grafting school
on Rangiroa atoll in 1992 but, like so many other trades, it’s hard work and
practice that breeds true skill. Frank, his good friend and a grafter, confesses :
« Maki has invented new techniques that allow grafters to advance. »
Indeed, Maki states that he discovers something new about grafting every
day. His tenacity and know-how have never given anyone a bad turn.
Pearl farmers rely heavily on their grafters and hire them with an enormous
amount of trust ; the stakes are high - the grafter is the biggest determining
factor of the quality of a harvest. It is a reciprocal trust however since the
grafter counts equally on the farmer to supply him or her with high quality
oysters and good care for the oysters once they are grafted; these elements
are also essential for producing quality pearls. While these components of
pearl farming can be controlled, others cannot. How long will this infatuation
with pearls last ? Will there always be a market ? These are doubts that
haunt farmers. So many sacrifices are made to create pearls. But optimism
and humor reign when Maki laughs, « as long as there are women, there will
be pearls ! »
Pearl farmers rely heavily
on their grafters
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Nancy Morgan, Tahitian Pearl Ambassadress
Text : tahiticommunication
© pictures : P. Bacchet - coverpage, p. 2, 15, 16-17 • G. Le bacon - p. 4-5 • I. Bertaux - TC - p. 9, 12, 14 • J. Humbert - P. 7, 8, 11 • G. CHekib - TC - p. 19
Edition 2008 : GIE Tahiti Tourisme - Conception : TAHITICOMMUNICATION
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The Itea collection, from a Reo Ma’ohi word that
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the riches of Tahiti and the neighbouring islands.
A rich blend of pictures and testimonies that will
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