Interest Centres On Long-Unfished

Cook Is.

Shell Industry

Suwarrow

A LTHOUGH production of r\ mother-of-pearl shell from the Cook Islands is only a small >ercentage of total world produc ion, increasing interest is being hown, especially by Continental ►utton manufacturers or their uppliers, in Cook Islands shell and n the future outlook for the adustry there.

Since the war by far the greater iroportion of Cl shell has come rom the Manihiki lagoon, •enrhyn lagoon has been largely eglected, and Suwarrow lagoon, elieved to contain shell in com lercial quantities, has not been shed for many years, except for 3me test diving under special cence in 1953.

The reason for the concentration n Manihiki is that it is a closed igoon, with few sharks or other redatory fish to endanger the ivers. and little weed to hinder perations, and, perhaps primarily,

because it is a shallower lagoon in the main, though with deep areas.

Thus, while shell supplies have lasted all the best divers have concentrated on Manihiki.

Late last year, due to increasing quantities of shell of less than 4i inches legal diameter appearing in the Rarotonga export-packing sheds, the Resident Commissioner of the Cook Islands reached the decision that it was time to rest the lagoon.

The decision to close the lagoon, however, for the calendar year 1956 was not made entirely on this account. To ensure a supply of clean shell, free from borer, it is essential that a pearling lagoon be regularly fished to remove the older shell. It was felt that the only way to induce the divers to fish the other two neglected lagoons was by closing Manihiki for a period. It also seemed likely that once the divers had moved to

Penrhyn and Suwarrow they might tend to remain there if results were reasonably good—though the yields of clean shell were almost certain to be low for a time.

It now appears that most of the under-sized shell from? Manihiki was coming from the areas less than 15 fathoms deep which are reserved to “skin divers”—men using no diving equipment. There are indications that the deeper areas can still yield plenty of good sized shell. However, it seems unlikely that the lagoon will be reopened even to machine diving during 1956.

The South Pacific Commission’s Fisheries Officer, Mr. H. Van Pel, visited Manihiki last year. In a report to the Cook Islands Admini stration he recommended that a mile-square area covering the deepest part of the lagoon be permanently closed as a breeding

area, and that the remaining area be divided into two. one area being rested while the other is worked and that the legal shell size be increased to 5 inches.

The Administration felt that there were technical difficulties in defining the borders of this per manently closed area. In May the Resident Commissioner was at Manihiki investigating the matter.

The Administration seemed to favour establishing definite marks at two points on the chain of islets surrounding the lagoon. A line drawn between these marks, then round the perimeter of that portion of the lagoon would include the Van Pel area—but it would also include some of the best skin diving areas nearer the shores, and for that reason might prove unpopular. No doubt this problem will be ironed out.

Meanwhile, as a result of public tenders called in February, Mr. D.

C. Brown, of Rarotonga, a leading shell buyer, diving machine operator, and exporter, was awarded in April the sole right to carry out pearling operations at the long-unfished Suwarrow atoll during the period June 1-December 31, 1956. There were a number of applicants but no others had the shipping or diving equipment immediately available to carry out the terms of the licence.

Mr. Brown purchased the Fiji ketch Taveuni and the local ketch

Inspire in April. On May 6, Taveuni, with Mr. Brown aboard, cleared Rarotonga for Suwarrow with a cargo of building materials and provisions. Carpenters were landed and the vessel proceeded to Manihiki to take aboard a party of about 70 persons, including 16 women shell-cleaners, also boats and diving equipment. The diving

team included most of Manihiki’s best divers.

THE Suwarrow licence requires the holder to operate not less than two and not more than four diving machines, and not more than 20 skin-divers. Actually four machines will be in operation.

Machine divers in the Cooks use

i helmet and short canvas jacket *nly. The machines are not always iwned by the licensee, who may, n effect, purchase the shell fished irom the machine owner. The iwner takes his percentage then jays his divers, tenders, pumpers, md women cleaners. At recent export prices for example, divers lave been receiving about £7O per on, tenders £lO, pumpers £35, and leaners £2B.

Skin-divers generally do not >ossess their own boats. A boat »wner will tend about ten or Lfteen skin-divers, taking them out o the area being fished, dropping hem at various points with their og floats, and standing by them nth coconuts and refreshment luring the day. For this service ach skin-diver pays the boat wner ten shells per day—about 10 bs of shell.

Apart from some test diving in 953, no serious diving has been ndertaken at Suwarrow for many ears, and there appears to be no ecord of any great quantity of hell ever having been taken from his lagoon.

Mr. Abela Williams, of Manihiki, rho has been associated with the lOP industry all his life, said in lay that he believed there had ever been more than 20 tons iken in any year. Apart from be 1953 diving, which gave ncouraging results, there has been 0 serious diving there since 1926.

'hough sharks are very plentiful le older divers believe that they 111 become fewer as diving opera ons proceed. They say that sharks ave increased at Penrhyn, a milar open lagoon, since diving as been reduced.

There are high hopes that enrhyn will prove as prolific as [anihiki as operations proceed, he fact that some good divers have losen to go to Suwarrow rather lan to Penrhyn indicates that ley consider the possibilities good.

Divers appear reluctant to work enrhyn. Though this lagoon has 1 allocation of twelve machine :ences only two such machines are : present in operation. Machine vers cannot be found to man ;her machines at present. Skin wing operations are under way, it also to a limited extent. The achine owners do not expect a eld of much more than one ton ;r month per machine this year ■as compared with 31 to 4 tons *r month from Manihiki last lar. But some good shell is being >hed —the Penrhyn and Suwarrow lell is generally considered larger id thicker than Manihiki shell, ne shell 11 inches in diameter and fighing 5 lbs was fished in Penrhyn iring April. This is a very big tell for the Cook Islands where e average is about 6 inches and lb.

If the Suwarrow operations are ccessful it is assumed that the iministration will re-establish a

radio station on the atoll. Meanwhile the only contact with the outside world will be by a monthly visit by one of Mr. Brown’s two ships. An Administration inspector is to supervise operations and Mr.

Tom Neale, who spent some months alone on the island in 1952-53, has been appointed and was to proceed from Rarotonga in June.

Flans to transfer some hundreds of shells from Manihiki to Puka Puka have been held up pending a suitable shipping opportunity.

The tanks and equipment are ready and the operation will be managed by Mr. Ron Powell, of Rarotonga, who has shown considerable interest in development of this and other marine industries in the Cooks. Mr. Brown has now

indicated that he will co-operate in any MOP replanting scheme by diverting his ships where necessary, so the Puka Puka transfer should take place this winter, The Administration is also organising the planting of trochus shell in Aitutaki lagoon. Some hundreds of trochus will be flown from Fiji by a New Zealand Civil Aviation Bureau aircraft when it makes a routine flight along the Coral Route in August-September —the shells could not be prepared in time for the May flight. No harvest could be expected from these shells for many years, but the experiment could be the basis of a valuable fishery eventually, To sum* up, the yield of MOP shell from the Cooks in the next

few years will hinge largely on results at Suwarrow. It will take time to locate the best beds there

and to clean the lagoon of old and probably wormy shell. Probably half of Manihiki lagoon will be

reopened next year. If the Suwarrow divers do not see definite possibilities there by the end of this year they are likely to quit and return to the surer beds at Manihiki. t After a series of farewell parties, Mrs. Misco Schaunkel has left Vava’u, Tonga, to fly to Auckland to rejoin her husband, who is in business there. The young couple, who were married recently in Naiafu, are both members of prom inent Vava’u families. The groom is the son of Mr. and Mrs. Paul Schaunkel, leading merchant and theatre owner; the bride, who was the former Miss Akanesi ’Utoika manu, is the daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Fevale’aki ’Utoikamanu, of Otu Mapa.