Problems and perspectives of the pearl oyster aquaculture in French Polynesia

The first attempt to obtain artificials pearls from the black-lip pearl oyster Pinctada margaritifera in French Polynesia dates back 1963. The pearl oyster culture has grown quickly especially since the eighties. This industry is now the first exportation in value of French Polynesia. 19 atolls of the Tuamotu islands have at this time one or more farms and this activity become more and more attractiveness. The rise of this industry has consequently a lot of socio-ecomicals repercussions on these atolls. However, as a young industry, the technics and the development are not always controlled and a lot of problems appeared these last years : + overfishing and depletion of broodstocks in some lagoons, + mass mortalities of cultured oysters, + large occupation of the lagoons by long lines and galvanised structures, It is now time for the management of the resource and the environment. Actually, some measures have been applied : + the development of spat collection technics, + the control of the farms, + the estimation of the natural stocks in some exploited lagoons, + experiments on the artificial reproduction and culture of spat in hatchery. As the management of the lagoons might be very complex, a multidisciplinary research program will started next year to provide datas on the diseases and the impact of the pearl oyster culture on the ecosystem.