| Hello,
During the last century, there was a big business with the Mother Of Pearl; there was some diving campaigns and hundred of divers were moving from island to island; this also contributes to impoverish the natural stock of oysters; some scientist said that it also lead to impoverish the gene pool of each island.
Fortunately, some island were very far or unsafe (very hard to access to the lagoon), and South Marutea was one of that kind. Mr Branelec (yes, the one from Jewelmer) was the one who discovered this last one.
Today, there are still some islands with wild oysters; some of them are protected by some governmental laws, others are protected by military laws.
Cheers,
Marama |