A PROCESS FOR PRESERVING THE PEARL-OYSTER FISHERIES 
AND FOR INCREASING THE VALUE OF THE YIELD OF PEARLS. 
wt 
By JOHN I. SOLOMON, B. Se. 
& 
CONDITIONS IN THE PEARL-OYSTER FISHERIES. 
The process of obtaining natural pearls is carried on throughout the world 
to-day in precisely the same manner that it has been done ever since mankind 
has prized this product of the sea asa gem. The only qualification that can be 
made to the above statement is that since the invention of modern diving appa- 
ratus there has been, in certain parts of the world, a modification in the method 
of securing the pearl oyster. This so-called improvement, however, has perhaps 
done more, within a very few years, to deplete former valuable natural beds 
than had centuries of previous fishings, when the ability of man to strip the beds 
of all the oysters they contained was prevented by the limitations of naked 
diving. The divers could then go to but comparatively shallow depths, and 
could gather the oysters only in a haphazard manner as they groped about for 
a minute or two at the bottom. Also, because of the inability of naked divers 
to carry on operations in any but calm and warm weather, the season for fishing 
was comparatively short. As a result of these conditions the beds in even 
comparatively shallow waters were never entirely stripped of all their oysters, 
while those lying at depths greater than the physical ability of the divers to 
reach were untouched. There were thus always sufficient oysters left for 
breeding purposes, and in spite of the wastes of the method for securing the 
pearls—the killing of all the oysters to get the contained pearls from about 10 
per cent of them—the beds continued to give a comparatively uniform yield. 
Since the adoption of diving apparatus the conditions have entirely changed. 
_ With the divers enabled to remain under water for a considerable period and in 
weather which would prohibit naked diving, and to go to greater depths and 
work in a thorough and systematic manner, the old natural beds have been 
completely stripped, and beds heretofore inaccessible have been or are being 
depleted in the same way. This has already been accomplished in most parts 
of Australia, the waters off Thursday Island, Costa Rica, the Mergui Archipelago 
B. B. F. 1908—20 305 
