Pearl fishery industry in SriL: a review

Abstract

The Gulf of Mannar was one of the most abundant sources of natural pearls in the world for more than two millennia. Pearls were the most valuable aquatic resource in Sri Lanka and were exploited since ancient times, more than 3500 years time._Pearl-producing bi-valve molluscs Pinctada genus of saltwater oysters (mainly Pinctada radiate and Pinctada fucata) populated the low-lying shoals and rock and coral formations of the Gulf of Mannar. But some historical and archaeological evidences extend more than two millennia, because Sri Lanka known as the pearl of the Indian Ocean. The pearl beds of South India and Sri Lanka constituted one of the two major sources of pearls in the world, rivalled in size only by that of Hainan. The exploitation of pearl fisheries continued during the Dutch and the British colonial rule. The British earned considerable revenue from pearls of Ceylon, e.g from March 1828 to May 1837 alone Sterling Pounds 227,131 were credited as revenue into the Ceylon Treasury on account of the pearl fisheries. But, the pearling industry is all extinct today.