The Pearl Farming Ecosystem: How Pearl Farming Helps the Environment
Pearls are organic and the only sustainable gem on earth. But what impact does the development and growing popularity of pearl farming have on the environment? If you were worried about it, don’t be. Research funded by the Tiffany & Co. Foundation has shown that if pearl farming is managed well, it not only has a very low impact on the environment, but it can help the environment to stay healthy.
Oysters Need Clean Water to Produce Pearls To produce a quality pearl, the oyster should be happy. And an oyster is only happy in clean, unpolluted water where there is a lot of oxygen and minerals. One example is the tragic tale of how the Hoover Dam historically killed off pearl oysters in Mexico because of not enough fresh water pouring into the ocean. Now that experts know this, however, they ensure that the marine and freshwater environments have the best possible water quality. Pearl Mussels and Oysters Can Purify Water While oysters and mussels need a certain level of cleanliness in their water to survive, they can also contribute to purifying the water and increasing the water quality. Each pearl mussel can filter about 104 litters of water every 24 hours, and the impurities, such as algae, are used or ‘eaten’ by the mussel. That makes each mussel a tiny purification system on its own!