Pearl harvest put on hold
Thursday, April 01, 2010
PEARL producer J Hunter Pearls Fiji has postponed its March harvesting season to May to allow time for the oysters to "relax and recuperate" after Hurricane Tomas.
The company said seeding sheds were destroyed and spat grids in Savusavu Bay came undone resulting in spat losses.
J Hunter Pearls' owner Justin Hunter said that last year they harvested close to one million baby oysters - five times higher than previous years.
He would not reveal the monetary value of the harvest, however, it's understood a good number of that was lost to the hurricane.
"We're still working on it, we have yet to figure that out," Mr Hunter said.
"Last year saw a fivefold increase in the number of spat we harvested in a single year previously.
"While this presented us with logistical issues with regards to our infrastructure, it provided us with a lot of baby oysters that will produce pearls over the next few years," he said.
Mr Hunter said the high harvest record was a result of the high investment made into its operation.
He said the market for pearl was good for Fiji but the recent hurricane was a disaster.
"They (oysters) look OK now but these things will develop the impact of that (hurricane) later and they will not eat, etcetera," he said, adding time was needed to allow these spat to recuperate.
Mr Hunter said given the damages incurred consequent to the hurricane, it was highly likely that a review of the harvest forecast was imminent.
But he preferred not to make any comment on that pending assessment result of damages on the pearl farm.
Meanwhile, full expansion work on the Kioa pearl farm was progressing.
"In the last six months, we have accelerated expansion as we experienced our largest natural and hatchery spat (baby oysters) numbers to date," Mr Hunter said.
"A record harvest saw us collect more spat this year than the last 10 years combined," he said.
