VietNamNet Bridge - The number of tourists to Con Dao island district of southern Ba Ria-Vung Tau province is increasing. Under Con Dao’s socio-economic development plan, the island district targets to welcome 200-250,000 tourists a year by 2010 and 500-700,000 tourists a year by 2020. Of the tourists who come to Con Dao, many of them are sure to come for pearl.

The determination of the ‘pearl Westerner’

From the centre of the Con Dao district, it is easy to ask for the way to the house of the ‘pearl Westerner,’ a nickname the Con Dao people call Jordan Lee, from Australia.

Jordan Lee is the first foreigner to start business in Con Dao island by opening a farm to raise oysters to cultivate pearls.

With an initial investment of over a hundred of thousand dollars, after six years, the couple of Jordan and Pham Thi Kim Cuc multiplied hundreds of millions of young oysters and released them to the sea.

The couple have been particularly successful in cultivating pearls in the oysters and have already harvested cultivated pearls.

Jordan has not only helped save oysters but has also created a trademark for Con Dao cultivated pearls.

The villa where the family of Jordan and Kim Cuc live and also the office of the Con Dao Pearl Company has been decorated in such a way that any one can realise at once the passion for sea and pearls of its owners.

Jordan displays the first cultivated pearls he has harvested in the two cases in the house, the achievements the couple has recorded after overcoming great difficulties.

Jordan first arrived in Vietnam 13 years ago as a technician to cultivate pearls in oysters for the Nha Trang Pearl Company. At that time, Nha Trang was among the first places in Vietnam to develop cultivating pearls in oysters.

Once he came to Con Dao to conduct a survey on water and sea environment there, he immediately realised that the conditions in Con Dao were favourable for raising oysters for pearls.

In 2001, Jordan Lee and his wife Kim Cuc were officially granted the status of residents of Con Dao. They lived on the island since.

With support from Japanese and Australian experts, the Vietnam Con Dao Pearl Company was established, focusing on cultivating, producing and selling pearls

At first, Jordan bought oysters from local farmers. However, the source of supply of oysters is not big enough because the locals exploited oysters in an unrestrained manner to sell their shells to traders for making handicrafts.

In order to meet the demand for oysters, Jordan decided to open an oysters-raising farm to increase the supply of the Con Dao oysters. He has been allowed to hire 100 hectares of sea surfaces to raise oysters for pearls.

Difficulties

Despite the strong northwesterly wind in Con Dao, Jordan and his workers can always be found present on the sea-farm. It take 20 minutes by a speed-boat from the island to the lighter on the Con Dao sea. There are days Jordan and his wife had to travel several times from the island to the farm and back.

About 20 workers have taken turns to work on the farm.

It often takes five years to harvest cultivated pearls from an oyster since it was born.

The cultivation of pearls into an oyster is very important as it will decide how beautiful the cultivated pearls are, said Jordan.

Jordan farm has released hundreds of millions of oysters to the sea for natural reproduction. According to him, it will be a success if only one million of them develop well till they are old enough (two years) to be able to cultivate pearls.

With great efforts, Jordan and his wife have proved that the cultivation of pearls in oysters in Con Dao island can be successful and promises great potentials for development.

Achievements

The success in multiplying raised oysters in Con Dao has not only met the demands for long-term oyster-pearl production but also helped balance the ecological environment as wild oysters had previously been unrestrainedly exploited.

Jordan’s company have bought a total of 30,000 oysters from local people for pearl cultivation. The company has helped raise the income of local people through buying oysters and giving them jobs during harvesting.

According to experts, the quality of Con Dao pearls is in no way inferior to any other pearls, including those produced in Australia, which is considered as the world leading producer of cultivated pearls.

As many as 80% of pearls produced in Con Dao have been exported to foreign markets, including Japan and Australia. The remaining 20% have been sold to domestic jewelry companies.