| Hi Morna,
Molluscs are sensitive to many things: red algae tides, strong typhoons, tsunamis, insufficient nutrients, over crowding, water pollution, weak genetics, overuse of hormones, factory chemical runoff....
Yes, they have much water pollution in China. Yes, it is affecting pearl production. China's lakes and ponds will eventually go the way of Japan's. In fact, with global water pollution steadily on the rise, in a fair while, you will be hard pressed to culture freshwater pearls anywhere. Here in Quebec, where we use to have pristine waters, there is a huge scurge of blue green algae choking many lakes in the Eastern Townships around the Montreal area. It's disgusting to see. Every living thing in the lakes affected is suffocating. We never saw it so bad. Experts say it is the runoff from chemical farming fertilizers and pesticides that have entered the water table. And we have goverment controls on the chemicals farmers are using! Then imagine China, where nobody(almost nobody) is regulating chemical use. In fact, the surpluses of the few crappy carcinogenic chemicals we have banned in North America are now "oddly" found in Asia and South America.
So yes, yes, water quality is a major factor in mollusc health.
Slraep  |