Unclear future for cultured pearls I

　　For centuries, the mystique of the pearl centered o n the mystery of its origins.

　　The oyster's scret was partially fathomed as early as the 5th century, when chinese produced little pearl buddha by sliding wax figures into freshwater mussels b etween the body and the shell.

　　It wasn't until the end of the 19th century that a technique for culturing pearls was invented in japan. T he discovery was made by the son of a noodle shop owner , kokichi mikimoto. After 20 years of research, he revo lutionalised the pearl industry.

　　After 100 years of continuous pearl culture in ago bay, traditional japanese pearl farmeera are now battli ng with rising motality rates.

　　Katsumusa tanaka and his wife kikumi are second-gen eration pearl farmers at shima town on ago bay. One of thousands of independent farmers in japan. The tanakas practice a technique handed down from katsumasa's who s tarted the family business more than 30 years ago.

　　We usually cultivated between 30,000 and 50,000 she lls. But the mortality rate for our larger oyster is ve ry high. We're happy if even half of them survive. The reasons for this are the condition of the sea and natur al factors like the weather.

　　Ago bay is no longer a quiet backwater. Today it is a busy port surrounded by residential and tourist devel opment. Industrial and domestic wastes are steadily pol luting the once healthy waters, in which the farmed oys ters live and breathe.

　　Oyster requires clean water to produce good pearls. They are like the parakeet in the mine-they are a good barometer of what's going on. So you need, as the farme r, to put the oyster basket into good water, and that i s virtually unobtainable in an industrialised country l ike japan.

　　The worst threat is red tide--a growing phenomenon worldwide, which contaminates or kills marine life and which now regularly occurs in the area of ago bay.

　　Red tide is usually caused by agricultural pesticid es, detergents or conditions, which increase nutrients in the water. But with this type of red tide ago bay, w e unfortunately still don't know the cause.

　　Shigeru akamatsu is the senior manager at mikimoto' s pear research lab.long term problems with pollution h as made japanese scientists leading authorities on alga l blooms.

　　几个世纪以来，珍珠的形成一直是个谜。

　　早在5世纪，人类就开始对外进行研究。当时中国人将佛像的蜡摸注入淡水蚌的躯体和贝壳之间，来培育佛形珍珠。

　　直到19世纪末，人工培育珍珠的方法才在日本发明。

　　发明人是一家面店老板的儿子，KOKICHI MIKIMOTO。 经过20年的研究，他为珍珠产业掀开了新的篇章。

　　AGO BAY 亲历了100 年的珍珠养殖史，现在传统的日本养殊人正在被珍蚌的高死亡率困扰。

　　KATSUMUSA TANAKA和妻子KUKUMI是AGO BAY Shima镇的第二代养珠人，是日本几千个个体养珠人之一。夫妇二人从父亲那里继承了养殖技术，这是老人在30多年前创立的事业。

　　我们养殖的蚌一般在3万到5万个。但蚌的死亡率也非常高。如果能有一半活下来，我们就很高兴了。存活率低是因为海水状况和诸如天气等自然因素。

　　AGO BAY已不再是平静的海湾，今天它的周围是蓬勃发展的旅游业和居民区。工业和民用垃圾在不断地污染着这片曾让珠蚌繁衍生息的良好水域。

　　珠蚌需要洁净的水来生产优秀珍珠。他们就像矿区的长尾小鹦鹉，就像温度计反映出周围的变化。养珠人应该所蚌放到良好的水域去，在工业发达国家很难找到这种地方，比如日本。

　　最大的威胁是“赤潮”，这是日趋严重的全球性问题。它能污染，甚至杀死海淡动物，现在它也定期出现在AGO BAY地区。

　　赤潮通常是由于农业杀虫剂、清洁剂引起的，或是因为营养增大的水域状况。但对于AGO BAY的赤潮典型，我们还没有找到原因。

　　SHIGERU AKAMATU是MIKIMOTO 珍珠研究实验室的高级主管。长期的污染问题使日本科学家在研究海藻过剩方面居世界领先水平。

　　环境与珍珠养殖(下)