Salinity Issues as Far as Fiji

A great threat to akoya pearl farmers has always been the storms. Typhoons wreak havoc on any sea-based operation, but pearl farmers are especially susceptible. Torrential rains add an element of danger particularly nasty. Rain is freshwater. Saltwater pearl oysters live in saltwater. When saltwater turns to freshwater, pearl oysters die – plain and simple.

When Kammuri slammed into China last year, it was a near-repeat of the year before. The salinity of the coastal bays dropped to levels too low to sustain pearl oysters. The oysters died.

This is a problem that pearl farmers face on an ongoing basis. It is a chance they take. A risk of which they are very well-aware. But it is not the kind of threat one would expect from farms built on atolls deep in the Southern Pacific where global-circulating currents are constantly moving water and the absence of a large land mass reduces the threat of freshwater runoff. But the threat does still exist.

Justin Hunter of J. Hunter pearls is worried, and rightfully so. Fiji has been hit with non-stop rainy weather for some time now. Where regular conditions host bay-salinity at 32-35% at a pearl-oyster depth of five meters, the salinity has already dropped to 25-30%.

Justin might be able to lower the shell to a more life-sustaining depth if the rains continue. The Chinese tried, but failed. Mother Nature is one fickle lady. Respecting her is absolute.