FISHERY RESOURCES OF THE PHILIPPINE ISLANDS. 95 



The laws sliould be extended to include the entire Archipelago, and 

 all local regulations should be repealed. In this way only can the young 

 shell properly be protected. Additional legislation protecting the black 

 lip pearl shell, MarfiarHifcrn margantifcra (LinnfBUs), should be enacted. 



Act No. 43 provides for the protection of pearl fisheries within the jurisdiction 

 of the Moro Province, and was passed February 29, 1904. It forbids the taking 

 of pearl oysters less than 100 millimeters (4 inches) in diameter. 



Act No. 51 regulates the fishing for shells of marine moUusks and was enacted 

 June 7, 1907, at the urgent request of the pearl fishers. It prohibits from 

 engaging in pearl fishing all vessels not built in the Philippine Islands or in the 

 United States, or not wholly owned by citizens of the United States or by people 

 having the political rights of the natives of the Philippine Islands. It prescribes 

 the places at which licenses to engage in pearl fishing may be secured, the price 

 for such licenses, and the length of time for which they are granted. It states 

 that the master of every vessel operating under a first-class license shall record 

 the date of every operation and the number of shells taken each day. Before any 

 shell can be landed, these records must be verified under oath in the presence of the 

 collector of customs of Jolo or Zamboanga. This Act also amends Act No. 4.3 

 and requires the size of the shell to be 180 millimeters (7 inches) in diameter from 

 the outer margin to the middle of the hinge, measured at a right angle to the 

 hinge. A fine of not less than 50 pesos is provided for the violation of any provi- 

 sions of this Act. 



Act No. 131 amends Act No. 51 by reducing the price of first-class shell 

 licenses to 300 pesos per annum, and provides for the issuance of such licenses for 

 periods of three months. The enforcement of Act No. 51 resulted in such a 

 decrease of revenues, owing to the excessive cost of licenses, that this amendment 

 was made necessary, and it was enacted August 22, 1905. 



Act No. 176 amends section 2 of Act No. 51 and was enacted October 12, 1906. 

 It provides for the issuance of licenses only to those vessels wholly owned by 

 citizens of the United States, to honorably discharged soldiers or sailors of the 

 United States Army and Navy, to natives of the Philippine Islands, or to those 

 having the political rights of natives. 



Act No. 200 repeals Act No. 176 and was enacted September 19, 1907, and 

 approved by the Philippine Commission October 7, 1907. 



PEARLS. 



The Philippine fisheries give a fair yield of pearls; in fact, some of 

 the most beautifirl specimens ever discovered have come from the Sulu 

 fishery. Tlie yield is fully as large as that in either the Gambler Islands 

 or the Pearl Islands. The number of pearls secured in Ceylon is much 

 greater. In that country the commercial pearl oyster is of a different 

 species (Margaritifera vulgaris Schum.), a very small oyster prolific 

 in pearls, but with shells of practically no value. 



The composition of a pure pearl as given by Harley and Harley" is 

 as follows : 



Cai'bonate of lime 91.72 



Organic matter 5.94 



Water 2.23 



Loss 0.11 



"The Chemical Composition of Pearls. Proc. Roy. 8oc. London (1888), 43, 461. 



