Pearlshell panels

When the pearling industry morphed from collecting large pearlshell for buttons, to the production of pearls, new technology was required to keep the small, live shell free from disease and to grow it to full size to produce the best pearls. Initially, they were placed in cages and dropped to the sea bed, but many died. Innovative pearl farms developed a new ’long-line’ technology in which panels of shell were placed in mesh frames and hung on long lines suspended in the pristine, flowing, tidal currents. As filter feeders, the shell had a much greater survival rate and each shell could grow and be seeded to produce up to three pearls.