Economic feasibility of small-scale mabé pearl production in Tonga using the winged pearl oyster, Pteria penguin

Johnston, William L.; Gordon, Sophie E.; Wingfield, Max; Halafihi, Tuikolongahau; Hine, Damian; Southgate, Paul C.

doi:10.1016/j.aqrep.2020.100347

Cited by 11 publications

(15 citation statements)

References 18 publications

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“…Pteria penguin cultured at sites with more suitable environmental conditions reached pearl production size up to 34.2 % (6.5 months) earlier than oysters cultured at less suitable sites. This difference in G M would enable mabé pearl production to begin substantially sooner at more suitable culture sites and could have profound effects on production schedules, farm profitability and feasibility (Saidi et al, 2017;Johnston et al, 2020). Results of this study therefore highlight the impact of both large-scale and local environmental conditions on mabé pearl farm productivity and feasibility.…”

Section: Implications For Culture Site Selection and Production Schedmentioning

confidence: 87%

“…In addition to its' effects on growth performance, sites with high wave exposure may also experience faster deterioration of infrastructure and equipment, and a lower ease of operation (Southgate, 2008). These factors can increase operating risks and maintenance and labor costs and thereby reduce mabé pearl farm profitability and feasibility (Johnston and Hine, 2015;Johnston et al, 2020).…”

Section: Intra-island Spatial Variationmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The Kingdom of Tonga is the leading producer of mabé pearls in the south Pacific (Johnston et al, 2019) and has experienced rapid industry development sustained by recently improved hatchery, husbandry, and pearlculture methods (Wassnig and Southgate, 2012;Southgate et al, 2016;Gordon et al, 2018Gordon et al, , 2019Gordon et al, , 2020. Subsistence-level mabé pearl farming has considerable potential for livelihood support (Yamamoto and Tanaka, 1997;Anon, 2018;Johnston et al, 2019), with small-scale farms capable of generating annual profits of more than twice the average income in Tonga (Johnston et al, 2020). Currently, mabé pearl farms are distributed among the three main island groups of Tonga (Johnston et al, 2019) which span three degrees of latitude (∼300 km) and vary in environmental conditions (Smallhorn-West et al, 2020).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Successive layers of nacre (mother of pearl) are subsequently deposited over the nuclei (Taylor and Strack, 2008) to produce mabé pearls with commercial nacre thickness within 9-12 months (Kishore et al, 2015;Gordon et al, 2018Gordon et al, , 2019. Maximizing the growth performance of P. penguin up to pearl-production size will therefore reduce the non-productive culture period and overall production time, thereby increasing pearl farm profitability and feasibility (Johnston and Hine, 2015;Johnston et al, 2020).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Spatio-Temporal Variation in Growth Performance and Condition of the Winged Pearl Oyster Pteria penguin

et al. 2021

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Environmental conditions can strongly influence the growth performance of pearl oysters and affect pearl farm production schedules. Growth and condition index (CI) of two age cohorts of Pteria penguin were measured for 13 months to investigate differences in growth performance between four culture sites within the northern (Vava’u) and southern (Tongatapu) island groups of the Kingdom of Tonga. Environmental conditions were also measured at culture sites and used to explore potential effects on oyster growth and condition. Between island groups, growth performance of P. penguin was superior at northern sites and was most strongly related to higher water temperatures at these sites. Within the southern island group, growth performance varied significantly between sites and may be driven by differences in wave energy. Monthly growth rates (GM) of P. penguin also showed significant temporal variation related to age and environmental conditions. This study demonstrated significant variation in the growth performance of P. penguin at latitudinal and local scales and suggests that in oligotrophic marine environments with minimal terrestrial inputs, such as Tonga, water temperature and wave exposure may be the primary environmental conditions influencing the growth performance of P. penguin. This study therefore recommends that optimal culture sites for P. penguin in Tonga are characterized primarily by warmer water temperatures (25–30°C) and low wave exposure (<15 joules m2 day–1). Culture of P. penguin at sites with more suitable environmental conditions enables pearl production to begin up to 34.2 % (6.5 months) earlier than at less-suitable sites and this may greatly influence mabé pearl farm profitability and feasibility.

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Section: Implications For Culture Site Selection and Production Schedmentioning

confidence: 87%

Section: Intra-island Spatial Variationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 2 more Smart Citations

Spatio-Temporal Variation in Growth Performance and Condition of the Winged Pearl Oyster Pteria penguin

et al. 2021

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“…Since Mikimoto succeeded in culturing blister pearls in 1893, pearls have been cultured worldwide by utilizing different bivalve mollusk species (Nagai, 2013), and the pearl farming industry has grown rapidly (Gueguen et al, 2016;Johnston et al, 2019). The black pearl oyster P. margaritifera, found in Tahiti and many other Pacific islands, including the Cook Islands and Fiji, is widely used for the production of cultured pearls (Kishore et al, 2018;Johnston B. et al, 2020;Johnston W. et al, 2020). Freshwater pearl mussels are widely used in various industries and created great wealth in China and Japan (Tisdell and Poirine, 2008;Bai et al, 2014b).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Research Trends of Development on Pearl Bivalve Mollusks Based on a Bibliometric Network Analysis in the Past 25 Years

Cheng

Bai

2021

Front. Mar. Sci.

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Freshwater pearl mussels and marine pearl oysters are major producers of cultured pearls. With the development of pearl farming, pearl bivalve mollusks have attracted significant research attention over the past 25 years. To provide an overview of this research, we conducted a bibliometric analysis of publications from the Web of Science Core Collection database from 1995 to 2020. A network map generated by VOSviewer software was used to evaluate studies of pearl bivalve mollusks in terms of author, country, organization, journal, and keywords. A total of 2,288 publications were obtained, showing an annual increase in the number of papers. Researchers based in China were a major contributor to the field and there was active cooperation among authors. Research focused on mussel and oyster developmental biology, growth, culture mode, molecular biology, and ecological conservation. In recent years, hot topics, such as growth performance and traits, pearl formation and biomineralization, and immune response, have been widely discussed. Genomics, transcriptomics, proteomics, and metabonomics analyses were commonly used to analyze the regulatory mechanism of coding and non-coding genes. The interaction between the environment and farming activities showed the importance of sustainable development. Interdisciplinary research could solve some of the issues facing the pearl bivalve mollusk farming. In conclusion, our findings could serve as another way to understand research trends in pearl bivalve mollusks and contribute to future studies.

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Influence of production method on the profitability of mabé pearl farming using traditional and research-informed nucleus implanting practices with the winged pearl oyster, Pteria penguin

et al. 2022

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Economic feasibility of small-scale mabé pearl production in Tonga using the winged pearl oyster, Pteria penguin

Cited by 11 publications

References 18 publications

Spatio-Temporal Variation in Growth Performance and Condition of the Winged Pearl Oyster Pteria penguin

Spatio-Temporal Variation in Growth Performance and Condition of the Winged Pearl Oyster Pteria penguin

Research Trends of Development on Pearl Bivalve Mollusks Based on a Bibliometric Network Analysis in the Past 25 Years

Influence of production method on the profitability of mabé pearl farming using traditional and research-informed nucleus implanting practices with the winged pearl oyster, Pteria penguin

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