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Pearl oyster resources of India

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Relation http://eprints.cmfri.org.in/2762/
 
Title Pearl oyster resources of India
 
Creator Mahadevan, S
Nayar, K Nagappan
 
Subject Pearl oyster
 
Description Of the 6 distinct species of Pinctada Roding (Pteridae) viz., Pinctada fucata (Gould), P. margaritifera
(Linn.), P. chemnitzi (Philippi), P. anomioides (Reeve,) P. sugiUata (Reeve) and P. atropurpurea (Dunker),
the first named species is the common pearl oyster of India, occurring on the pearl banks off Tuticorin coast
in the Gulf of Mannar on the rocky ridges extending all along the coast of the gulf at depths of 15 m-25 m.
They are occasionally found in the Palk Bay also in shallower waters lying in loose clusters over a bottom
of coarse sand grains covered with a matrix of dead shells. In the Gulf of Kutch they are found on the
intertidal reefs.
The pearl fishery in the Gulf of Mannar is unpredictable and it is a question of utilizing the natural resource
as and when the pearl oyster spat settle down and grow. It is difficult to have effective control over the conditions
affecting the settlement and growth of the pearl oyster in the natural beds because of their occurrence
in the open sea.
For the purpose of conducting an organized fishery, the population of fishable oysters should be
determined with accuracy. The existing method of estimation of population, the knowledge of the grounds
and the method of fishing require reorientation. To this end a thorough survey of the areas of oyster settlement
was undertaken for a period of 3 years and the grounds charted for the first time by means of direct
under-water observations by SCUBA. The outlook for pearl fisheries in the next few years is rather bleak
at present.
The success and failure of the pearl fisheries of the past and the futile attempts made over a number
of years to watch for the possible settlemenet of the pearl oyster spat show that the only alternative to put
India in the map of pearl producing nations is to resort to pearl culture practices.
 
Date 1973
 
Type Conference or Workshop Item
PeerReviewed
 
Format application/pdf
 
Language en
 
Identifier http://eprints.cmfri.org.in/2762/1/Article_50.pdf
Mahadevan, S and Nayar, K Nagappan (1973) Pearl oyster resources of India. In: Proceedings of the symposium on living resources of the seas around India, 1968, Mandapam Camp.