Government and company researchers both within and outside of Japan havestruggled to identify specific pathogenic source. .even in species as hardy as the akoya. Macnow, for one, takes issue with the idea that pollution is to blame. Pearl buyers around the world have witnessed shortage of themost desirable akoya pearls, especially those in the and millimeter sizerange and larger. Japanesepearl farmers reaped only tons of akoyagrown pearls in down 22percent from the harvest. Pearl Home Editors Picks Jobs Others feel more radical solutions are required.
Many people believe the Japanese will become moreprocessors and marketers of pearls than producers, he says, whileconcentrating only on producing higherquality, largesized akoyas.Peter Tyson is Online Producer of NOVA. Even isolatingapparently healthy oysters has had no effect the disease seems to ferret themout. For onething, he notes, akoya oysters share the same waters with other Japaneseaquaculture products, including shrimp, other oysters, and fugu, orblowfish, which is highly sought after for sashimi, the Japanese dish of thinlysliced raw fish. Named for the discolored water created by the presence of the minutecreatures, red tides are shortlived events.
But since something has been killing off theakoyas of Bay, the heart of Japans culturedpearl business, and elsewherein the country. In the wake of the dieoff, pearl production has taken beating. They have saying that,in translation, means cant be helped. Its fate. If so, it is conceivable that the preminence of akoyas is over. Its multitude of pollutionrelated problems.When Kokichi Mikimoto first began growing oysters in Bay early in thiscentury, he says, the bay was close to pristine, with few people living aroundit and no industry. Many remain skeptical of the virus theory, however.
Pearl buyers around the world have witnessed shortage of themost desirable akoya pearls, especially those in the and millimeter sizerange and larger. In the wake of the dieoff, pearl production has taken beating.
Will Japan become nation of pearl processors and marketers rather thanproducers? Only time will tell. Even withoutthe disease, he says, the estimated pearl farmers currently vying for spacewithin the bay would represent an enormous strain on the system. Eventually, they maintain, akoya oysterpopulations should return to health, probably by the year They believe it cannot travel more than feetunderwater, and so to combat its spread, they plan to thin the densities ofakoya oysters in afflicted areas. It could even be something totally unknown. Scientists andothers have suggested everything from inbreeding to climate change as possiblecauses.