Sustainability
A GREATER CONNECTION BETWEEN PEOPLE AND PLANET
As saltwater pearl farmers, our primary purpose is to produce the most beautiful gems in a harmonious relationship between man and nature. Our world class pearls are grown within a living organism, the oyster, and require a depth of care unlike any other precious gem on the planet today. We’re both ethically and economically incentivised to ensure our beautiful waterways are protected, and we are committed to doing everything possible to maintain a healthy marine environment.
GUARDIANS OF THE OCEAN
Most people aren’t aware just how powerful a tool the oyster is when it comes to filtrating our pristine waterways. Pearl oysters can filter from 150 to 500 litres of water a day helping to restore and re-balance the ecosystems in which they live.
Oysters are considered low input as they do not require feeding, getting all their nutrients from the water around them. Pearl farms act as suspended oyster reefs and improve abundance and diversity of marine life by providing food, shelter, and reproduction opportunities to other species.
Oysters are incredibly sensitive to environmental changes and as pearl farmers we take our responsibility seriously to protect our oysters and the ecosystems they grow in, for generations to come.
POSITIVE PEARLING
Pearling provides multiple services to surrounding ecosystem and communities. This includes employment, education and empowerment for people and extends to the protection of mangroves, seagrass and salt-marsh, the most efficient carbon sequestration substrates (‘blue carbon sinks’) on the planet.
The core and co-benefits of pearling makes it a natural partner to the ‘blue economy’, actively improving the lives of the communities and areas we work in, creating jobs and opportunities, working hard to harness renewable energies, actively cleaning up marine litter and pollution that flows through our farm areas, and helping to conserve marine life and our oceans. The wild pearl shell fishery in Australia is the only responsible and certified gem fishery in the world (certified by the Marine Stewardship Council, MSC).
KIMBERLEY MARINE RESEARCH STATION
Situated within the southern Kimberley Coast Bioregion, at Cygnet Bay Pearl Farm, the Kimberley Marine Research Station (KMRS) represents the ‘gateway’ to the Kimberley for independent marine research. Headed up by our Director James Brown (Marine Biologist, Australian Farmer of The Year), KMRS offers our pearl farm base, infrastructure, vessels, personnel and local knowledge to the wider science community as the first and only fully operational marine research facility in the region.
We are currently working on innovative breeding and farming programs to resolve the shell heath issues that have decimated the Australian pearling industry over the last decade, discovering the possibilities that lie within the ‘blue economy’ and ‘blue carbon’ as well as heading up collaborative research programs with other industry and universities from all over Australia.