South Sea Pearl Cultivation

Traditionally pearls were a rare find for divers who would be collecting what was then considered the highly valued mollusc shell which was used to make buttons, jewellery and decoration. Diving was very dangerous and often fatal.

In the mid 1900’s, the industry turned away from pearl diving and began to cultivate pearls from oysters collected from the wild. In time this caused problems with Australia waters being over-fished and as such oyster catchment quotas were heavily imposed for these producers.

The industry again adapted and established hatcheries to propagate oysters specifically intended for producing pearls. This is done through a lengthy and technical process of seeding and harvesting.

Atlas has been refining this technique over many years and now produces some of the finest South Sea pearls using these sustainable farming practices.