Stimulating investment in Pearl farming in Solomon Islands : report 1. Past research and development on blacklip pearl oysters in Solomon Islands

Abstract

Information currently available from Solomon Islands on blacklip pearl oysters(Pinctada margaritifera) and their potential culture comes from three main sources; records of past exploitation, occasional resource surveys that have included blacklip pearl oysters; and research on culture of blacklip oysters in Solomon Islands. Statistics on past exploitation are limited to export tonnage and value collected by the Statistics Unit of the Ministry for Fisheries and Marine Resources. Spatially resolved data from within the country, by island or by island group are not available. However, since export appears to have been through a single point. Honiara, these records are likely to reasonably accurately reflect the tonnage exported. Of the various resource assessments that have been undertaken the only recent, nationwide one that we are aware of is that coordinated and funded by The Nature Conservancy (TNC) in May- June 2004. All of the information on pearl farming in Solomon Islands is derived from a research project carried out in the period 1993-1997 by the WorldFish Center (previously the International Center for Living Aquatic Resource Management - ICLARM) in collaboration with MFMR and funded by the Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research (ACIAR). After 1997. through to the present. WorldFish continued research on blacklip pearl production, supported through its own funds, albeit at a reduced level.