Fair Trade South Sea Pearl Certification

[Owen Henderson]

I was first told about Fair Trade Pearls by my Japanaese associate from Kobe earlier this year. Apparently in Japan Fair Trade has become a hot topic and on my return to Australia this week it appears to be a hot topic here also.

I made contact with the Fair Trade representative for Indonesia a few weeks ago to enquire about getting Fair Trade Pearl certification. But as I understand there is no standards applicable at the moment. This means that ethical companies like mine are not yet able to be recognised for their contribution in assisting struggling pearling communities in developing countries.

I would like to raise awareness of this issue and also build support for the stardards for Fair Trade Pearls to be implemented. Your comments and thoughts on this issue will be appreciated.

[Kevin Canning]

This means that ethical companies like mine are not yet able to be recognised for their contribution in assisting struggling pearling communities in developing countries.

Sounds great, what are you presently doing to improve these countries?

[Owen Henderson]

At the moment we are trying very hard to promote awareness about Fair Trade and how this can improve the lives of the communities at the start of the pearl supply chain. Also by promoting sales of Fair Trade Pearls the increase in trade and reasonable prices paid to the pearl farmers for the pearls will all assist.

[Caitlin]

Hi Owen
Please keep posting on this subject- and others like it, like raising the pearls while maintaining the pristine environment etc. I think you are on a roll; hope it pays off.

[Owen Henderson]

Thanks Caitlin

I appreciate the support. In a perfect world the people at the start of the pearl supply chain would not need to be protected by Fair Trade and I am happy to assist and do my part.

[Kevin Canning]

hey owen,

I'm curious how are you achieving the fair trade status on your pearls? Are you paying more then the asking price of the pearls to give the farmers a fair price?

I'm not trying to knock you, I just feel there is a big difference between supporting the idea of fair trade and actually engaging in fair trade?

[Caitlin]

I just want to hear all the details, because I am so interested in your work. Can you put up some pictures? A lot of people read this forum. It is so good to put what you are doing out there. We will certainly love it.

Maybe we could build up a little coalition of fair trade and green pearls farmers, traders and the like.You are a trailblazer! I have thought for years that little pearl farmers should be seen as little vineyards and get their best pearls directly to the seller. Even the pearls the buyers make the farmers keep, are highly desired by American beaders, if they have good luster. The gem pearl guys are so snotty about these poor pearls, they fail to see their intrinsic beauty.

[Kevin Canning]

I just want to hear all the details, because I am so interested in your work.

X2 - don't take my questions as a negative I just want to hear the details?

[smetzler]

It occurs to me (from Seattle) that Starbucks®, poster child and global patron for Fair Trade®, would have plenty of people on the ground in Indonesia being such a prime coffee source. Maybe Owen could meet up with their reps for some tips?

[CortezPearls]

There are a number of people working on this effort. The Fair Trade Gems initiative is part of this effort, and has been working towards the creation of a "Fair Trade Pearl" certification program with us (Cortez Pearl + Perlas del Mar de Cortez) for the last couple of years...but this of course requires many scientific studies (socio-economical, environmental and on Gem Integrity) and this also means MONEY & TIME to be spent (something rather scarce at the moment).

We foresee that in 2010 we will be able to advance in this certification and propose it as a role-model for other pearl farming ventures in the world. Of course...we would not be both judge and juror: a suitable environmental NGO (or group of NGOs) will be the ones in charge of allowing the use of the "Fair Trade Gem/Pearl" seal. We -as a group- are helping to find the solution to the problem.

The first thing we have done is propose a major "NOM" (Norma Oficial Mexicana: Mexican Official Standards & Regulations), a sub-set of "rules" that apply to the Environmental Laws that apply to the rationalized use of our Native Pearl Oysters in order to nullify or minimize the problems that have "emperiled" other pearl oyster populations in the world such as:
1) Genetic Pollution
2) Introduction of non-native (exotic) pearl oyster species
3) Protection of the natural pearl beds & recovery efforts by means of the protection of the "Germplasm" of native pearl oysters
4) the establishment of sanitary laws in order to avoid diseases & outbreaks, and many other things...

The document itself is presently being reviewed by the Federal Congress of Mexico (we propossed this "law" (NOM) back in 2004...it has taken them quite a bit to "work on it") and we hope that 2010 will become the year for its "birth". If we can achieve this we will have done our part in helping preserve our Biodiversity.

Fair Trade is an issue that you must not only believe in, but that you MUST LIVE in your actions. Not a simple publicity thing because -as it was quite aptly said by a great American Phillosopher known as "Kermit the Frog"- "It ain't Easy being Green".

Merry X-Mas everyone... will be back in 2010...

[GemGeek]

Bravo Douglas!

[CLICLASP]

Owen,
That's interesting!
As an improvement the specifications of pearls could be more precise, i.e. :
"off round 12 mm", needs exact dimensions,
"very high quality" does not refer to any grading chart.
"70 or 95% surface clean" needs to show what the "unclean" is exactly about by a photo...
Good luck

[pearlgem]

Hi all,
the discussion on fair trade is quite a big one in the jewelry and gemstone business in general for quite some time now. There are a few suppliers and manufacturers in different parts of the world that are selling/producing ethically and/or ecologically correct gemstones, materials (gold/silver,...) and jewelry. One very good source in this discussion ant the whole process is the blog Fair Trade Jewelry, written mostly by Marc Choyt. In an article posted some two months ago, he also wrote about the initiative and the company behind it, Columbia Gem House, that CortezPearls mentioned.
As I am about to establish a jewelry business in Germany, I am very interested in the subject and looking for suppliers that can provide source to market custody for their materials. And this seems to be increasingly difficult, e.g. looking at the diamond market, the Kimberley Protocol is not as reliable as a proof of source as it seems to be.
Looking forward to the discussion and maybe to the first fair trade certificdate for pearls in 2010,
Regards, Sven

[pattye]

Hi Sven and All,

Columbia Gem House in Vancouver WA is company that has supported Fair Trade for a number of years. They are the other distributor besides (Carolyn Ehret) for Douglas' Sea of Cortez pearls and also have their own mines. Here's a link:http://www.columbiagemhouse.com/

They have some fabulous gems!

[Owen Henderson]

Hi everybody,

I am happily surprised at the response to the Fair Trade pearl issue that I raised. I recently contacted the fair Trade certification agency in Jakarta to inquire about becoming Fair Trade certified and was told "Unfortunately, there are currently no standards applicable. In case such a standard is implemented, we will inform you." I hope that the interest shown to-wards Fair Trade pearls will help speed up the process for developing the standards.

But in the mean time I will continue supporting the remote Indonesia pearling communities by paying a fair price for acquiring pearls and by promoting trade to their communities. In reality I can buy pearls cheaper at the huge jewelery fairs in Japan and Hong Kong but trading with large corporations will do little to relieve the poverty I have seen in Indonesia.

By the way it is interesting to learn about the push for recognition of Fair Trade gems. Our small business also has some interest in promoting diamonds from the Borneo diamond fields, which we acquire under the same Fair Trade principles. for anybody interested please visit www.natural-colour-diamonds.com.

Thanks to everybody for their support of a worthy cause.