| Hi Ashley
I certainly hope so. So far Bahrain has been adament in its tolerance for natural pearls only- all others are illegal.
I do think there could be a bit of poaching with scubas, but it would probably carry an onerous punishment....
The upside has got to be that the pearl beds are gowing again and there is always a possibliity that the way they are "managed" will include some old fashioned pearl diving methods.
I have long wished for a kind of "rodeo" of pearl wrangling, where reowned tribal divers from around the world, the Badjao of the Philippines , the Yaqui of the Bay of Cortez and of course, descendents of the local pearl divers, and some of the tribal aussies and not to exclude the SS islanders, would come together and dive for pearls with old authentic equipment and methods.
I wonder if anyone has collected the old "pearl songs" and how many of them Rob knows. That is a fantastic legacy right there.........sigh
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Caitlin  potamilus purpuratus American Pearl Mussel Where can I get a pearl from this mussel? |