By Marlene A. Prost

Australians have always been known for their pioneering spirit. Now, a handful of Aussie entrepreneurs are competing with Japan and China to produce the world’s largest, most beautiful akoya pearls.

At the forefront are two companies with quite different pedigrees: Port Stephens Pearls Pty. Ltd., two of whose owners are Japanese, has spent $7 million and 12 years developing akoya pearl farms in New South Wales (NSW), while Coral Sea Pearls Pty. Ltd. is the brain child of one man, David Williams, a commercial fisherman who started farming in Hervey Bay, Queensland, in 2000.

The road hasn’t been easy for either company. Port Stephens Pearls has fought the government several times for permission to farm, has been criticized by the dolphin and whale-watching industries, and has been picketed by anti-Japanese protesters; Williams has wrangled with government red tape and struggled for financing.

On the upside, Australia’s akoya pioneers couldn’t have more ideal growing conditions. The unpolluted, temperate waters on Australia’s eastern coast are a rich source of Pinctada fucata, the pearl oyster whose Japanese name is akoya.

Pearl farmers prepare oysters at a pearl farm in Australia. Photo courtesy Port Stephen Pearls.

This is also an ideal time to make inroads in the akoya market. For almost a century, Japan dominated the industry it created when Kokichi Mikimoto seeded the first cultured pearls in the early 1900s. However, 20th century industrialization took its toll. In the 1990s, pollution and disease destroyed millions of Japanese pearl oysters. Japanese akoyas dropped from 66 percent of the US$1 billion global cultured pearl market to less than 25 percent.

Chinese pearl producers dove into the breach. Golay, a pearl wholesaler based in Switzerland, estimated that Chinese akoya production was 10 metric
tons in 2005, versus 22 to 24 metric tons from Japan. China is widely considered to dominate akoya production in sizes under 7 mm, while Japan still holds the edge in the 8 mm to 10 mm range — sizes that are difficult to produce because of the size of the oyster. Australian producers are focusing on cultivating high-quality akoyas in larger sizes, hoping to even exceed 10 mm.

Aquaculture scientists at James Cook University in Townsville, Queensland, have studied the feasibility of akoya farming in Queensland and New South Wales for several years and are cautiously optimistic.

“My understanding is that [Australian akoyas] are at least the equal of Japanese and Chinese akoya. . . . There is considerable scope for developing large-size akoyas here,” says Paul Southgate of Cook’s School of Marine & Tropical Biology. “I think we can safely assume that there will be expansion of akoya production in Australian waters, but in terms of the impacts of these ventures on the overall productivity of akoya pearls, it is difficult to estimate at this stage.”

Port Stephens in New South Wales
Port Stephens Pearls’ history in Australia goes back to 1961, when director Koichi Ohara came to Australia to help develop South Sea pearl farms in the northern part of the country.

In the early 1990s, Port Stephens Pearls, then Australian Radiata Pty. Ltd., financed an operation with the Australian Museum to identify populations of akoya oysters in NSW. A population of some 10,000 wild shells were found in the clean, temperate waters around the town of Port Stephens in Salamander Bay, about 80 miles north of Sydney.

When the NSW Department of Primary Industries obtained four experimental lease sites, Port Stephens became its commercial partner. Trial farming began in 1999; there have been three experimental harvests from the main lease at Wanda Head.

“The first harvest was 2001. And at times we have produced as much as 200 kilos of pearls, all of which went to Japan. We will have a small harvest in October 2007, and our major harvest will be in three and half years. We initially intend to produce 1 million pearls per year, and this will increase as we expand the operations,” says Ian Burt, Port Stephens Pearls’ managing director.

A pearl farmer prepares oyster shells for conditioning. Photo courtesy Port Stephens Pearls.

The political road has been much more bumpy. Port Stephens Pearls’ development application was turned down by the local government because they employed more than 21 people. They applied to the state government and were rejected again, largely because of environmental concerns from dolphin and whale-watching businesses. They were also picketed by residents who protested their Japanese ownership with signs like: “No Pearl Harbour Here, Piss off Japs.”

The company applied again, but this time launched a public relations campaign to help educate local individuals and businesses. In 2005, Port Stephens Pearls, equipped with an environmental management plan, was finally granted three leases on approximately 30 hectares of ocean.

The pearls produced in Port Stephens have shown nacre coverings on seeded nuclei of about 1.5 mm. “Demand for those pearls we will produce is very high. Japan would be prepared to buy the entire production, and some companies have written confirming letters to our company patiently waiting for our major harvests,” Burt told Colored Stone. “We have plans to produce akoya pearls up to 10 mm in size. These are the missing pearls in the world.”

Coral Sea Pearls in Queensland
In 2000, fisherman David Williams bought a deep-water oyster farm in Moreton Bay to farm Sydney rock oysters for eating. He noticed lots of pearl oysters at the site, and decided to investigate whether he could use the native population to create a pearl-producing farm.

He got farming advice from his competitor to the south, Port Stephens Pearls, and technical advice from James Cook University. Coincidentally, the university had already studied the feasibility of akoya farming in Hervey Bay, a busy tourist area about 150 miles north of Brisbane in the Great Sandy Straits, where Williams moved his operation.

It took three years for Williams to get the necessary government approvals in 2006 to establish a pilot-scale, 20-hectare akoya farm in Hervey Bay, working in conjunction with the Queensland Department of Primary Industries and Fisheries (DPI&F). Today, Williams’s Coral Sea Pearls Pty. Ltd. holds leases for four 50-hectare sites in Hervey Bay.

“This year, we’re harvesting 19,000 akoya pearls. Next year, we’re looking at 50,000. We’re going up to 200,000” when the farm reaches full production, Williams told Colored Stone. The farm is producing pearls of 7 mm to 8 mm, with a goal of 9 mm to 10 mm.

What’s more, Williams has discovered a native oyster species that “bridges” the Pinctada maxima — the oyster which produces the larger South Sea pearls — and the Pinctada fucata, the Australian akoya oyster.

“We can produce the same size pearl as the South Sea, but cheaper, and with a nice luster. It can grow up to 12 mm,” Williams says. They discovered the new species by accident, and aren’t even sure precisely how it relates to other native oysters.

TOP: Akoya pearl production starts with spats, or baby oysters, that are suspended on lines in the water. ABOVE: Australian akoya pearl companies hope to produce quality pearls, such as those seen here. Photos courtesy Port Stephens Pearls.

“The species is yet to be clearly identified from a taxonomic viewpoint, and probably needs some serious genetic work for identification. However, we believe it is likely to be mostly aligned with Pinctada maculata,” confirms Kerrod Beattie, acting manager of Aquaculture Policy and Management at the Queensland DPI&F. Pinctada maculata is a species related to the oysters which produce black pearls. “The ‘type’ appears to have some characteristics that lend itself to produce a pearl with excellent coloration, and as the host shell grows relatively large, it appears to be able to produce a large pearl. I suspect that the 12 mm would be the top end of the scale, and only harvested pearls will be able to verify this claim.”

Meanwhile, the Pinctada fucata are also growing big in the warm waters of Hervey Bay.

“We’re one of the only pearl farms that can produce consistently large pearls. . . . We can grow them really big. We’re seeding for two years, and the shell has to be over 60 grams. We’re using 7.5 mm to 8 mm nuclei,” Williams says. The colors are unique, with undertones from pink to gold to turquoise.

“It’s a very hard process, what we have to deal with. That’s why there are no new pearl farms in Australia,” Williams says, pointing to government red tape, conflicts with other stakeholders, and banks’ reluctance to invest.

Australian akoyas have to be bigger and better to compete in the world market, he says. “Our nation has to produce something bigger. . . . I’m still a very small company. Lucky we’ve got something valuable; you have to in the market today. . . . I’ve got interest from [buyers in] Japan. Now, if we can only just keep up with the domestic market.”

It’ll be years until Australian akoya farms see the proof in the pudding. The process of producing akoya pearls takes more than three years. First the spat — baby oysters — are grown for up to two years, suspended on lines in the water. When ready, the spat are put in conditioning boxes for several weeks where their thin, brittle shells are weakened by restricting food intake so they don’t break during seeding. The shells are then nucleated with a bead and small slices of saibo, or mantle tissue, inserted in the gonads. The seeded shells are cultivated in the water in panel nets for 18 months to two years before harvesting.

Like all pioneers, akoya pearl farmers in eastern Australia have had a slow, laborious start. But experts predict a promising future.

“The akoya industry, particularly in NSW, is now starting to find its feet. There are now two companies formed that have commenced akoya farming and that have produced trial pearl crops. There is at least one other company being formed, and there are a number of existing edible-oyster farmers that are growing akoya oysters,” says Wayne O'Connor, Ph.D., senior research scientist with the NSW Department of Primary Industries.

“Beyond Queensland, other states are becoming interested in the possibility of akoya farming, and in some instances their prospects are very promising. I would expect to see akoya farming become firmly established in Australia over the next five to 10 years.”

With the support of scientific and government agencies, the determination of the farmers themselves, and the world’s appetite for large, exquisite akoya pearls, Australia may yet assume Japan’s crown as the 21st century’s premier akoya producers.

May/June 2007 • Sea Change • Akoyas Down Under • News & Updates • In This Issue • Visit the Vegas Show Guide