ISSN 1021-1861 FISHERIES PROGRAMME INFORMATION SECTION PEARL OYSTER Number 9 – September 1996 INFORMATION BULLETIN Editor: Neil Sims, Black Pearls Inc., P.O. Box 525, Holualoa, Hawaii 96725, USA. [Phone: (808) 3256516; Fax: (808) 3253425; e-mail:
[email protected]]. Production: Information Section, Fisheries Programme, SPC, B.P. D5, 98848 Noumea Cedex, New Caledonia. [Fax: (687) 263818; e-mail:
[email protected]]. Printed with financial assistance from the Government of France. Editorial Reaping rewards With each issue’s editorial, I find myself consciously trying to Inside tone down the sense of heady, breathless excitement at the speed with which developments are happening in Pacific this issue pearling. Before sending an editorial off to the presses, I wade through and purge my writing of any excess of exclamation marks, overstated adverbs, and the worst examples of hyper- Editorial p. 1 bole. We want to strike a note of guarded optimism, without being gushy or over-the-top euphoric. News and views p. 2 It has been hard, sometimes, not to wax light-headedly lyrical, as the industry in the Pacific has opened up, and as we have Cook Islands pearl farm development seen our aspirations begin to take form. Since the first Pearl Oyster Information Bulletin, there has been the dramatic ACIAR research programme growth in French Polynesia and Cook Islands farm production, Progress of research on coupled with an industry commitment to better co-ordination; the potential of farming blacklip there is evidence of a maturing consumer awareness, with pearl oysters in Solomon Islands greater promotional emphasis producing a broader, deeper and more .