• Some recent scientific findings are having decisive effects on the organisation of the pearl industry.
  Various Pearl Research Programmes are under way, such as the PGRN programme, in which several public institutions, including IFREMER, the IRD, several Universities and the "Service des Ressources Marines" are collaborating. Another programme worth mentioning is the TYPATOLL programme, which is being  carried out by the IRD with a view to modelling the way in which  the atoll lagoon ecosystems function. The various types of atolls wiill be defined in order to optimise their management.

• The pearl sector is also being dynamised by several other research projects designed to find new long-term methods of industrial reorganisation. One study is being carried out jointly  by University research workers and private firms, for example, on how to determine the colour of pearls in advance, and the results were published in the May-June issue of the "Perles de Tahiti" newsletter. Upon performing spectral analysis of the colour, it was established that the pigmentation of Pinctada margaritifera depended on the three types of organic molecules produced by each mollusc in variable quantities and not on their mineral content. In other words, the colour of pearls is an individual, statistically quantifiable variable which it will eventually be possible to predict and control. Each pearl has its own colour fingerprint and can be classified  on the basis of its place of origin and its mode of production.
  From the commercial point of view, this technique might be a useful means of preventing fraudulent practices, since it can be used to detect any reconstituted pearls and the authentic products can therefore be provided with a reliable quality label.

• Financial aid, tax dispensations and pearl-promoting interventions:

  According to the "Service des Ressources Marines", the subsidies from which the pearl industry has benefited amounted to nearly 900 million Fr. CFP from 1992 to 1996, and were distirubuted as follows.

Source : SRM - Millions of Fr. CFP

The largest subsidies went to the "Perle de Tahiti" consortium, which received  553.5 million Fr. CFP to finance its pearl promotion efforts.

The following articles were exempted from tax (in decreasing order of importance):  plastic articles intended for use at the collecting and rearing stations (80 million Fr. CFP) and nets for oyster rearing purposes (19 million Fr. CFP).

At the international level, the European Development Fund (EDF) finances a technical assistance programme to help pearl farmers to improve their productivity, in the framework of which management specialists are trained and their services made available to the consortia "Poe Rava Nui" and "Tahiti Pearl Producer".

• Vocational training in Tahitian black pearl production methods:

  At the international level, an initial vocational training course focusing on cultured pearls is part of the  teaching program at the highly reputed Gemological Institute of America (GIA). The GIA trains professionals in the field of pearl production (from scientists to pearl dealers) as well as initiating insurance brokers, photographers, historians, writers and journalists requiring specialised training in the field. The creation by the Institute of a "Tahitian Pearl" section in 1997shows that this activity has at last achieved international recognition.

  
  In French Polynesia itself, the first secondary school leavers graduating from the school of St-Joseph de Punaauia in Tahiti with a specialised diploma in jewellery were awarded their vocational certificates (CAP) in July 1998.

  On the other hand, several jewellers working on the Polynesian Territory itself have won international awards for their artistic craftsmanship.

Working on a pearl farming concession in the Polynesian atolls means accepting isolated living conditions on small, fragile spaces threatened by extreme climatic conditions. Polynesians do not always regard the need to adapt to these conditions as a painful constraint, however. Pearl farming has even provided some of the "puamotu" who had to emigrate to Tahiti in search of work with an opportunity of returning to their " fenua" (which is Tahitian for home.

The Polynesian people, who by tradition are seafarers thoroughly acquainted with the techniques of navigation, deep-sea diving, the atoll topography and the animal life inhabiting the lagoons, are well equipped for mastering the technical specificities of pearl farming.

The boom which has occurred in the pearl industry has reinforced the Polynesians' sense of identity .

Ever since the time of the first settlers, the Polynesians have been making full use of the resources provided by this mollusc. 

The mother of pearl from the oyster shells was used to make household utensils and fishing tackle (hooks), as well as ornamental items worn by the chiefs or "arii" and offerings to the gods. Pearls were also used as currency to trade with the first European seafarers to visit this part of the world. The records written by Captain Cook, for example, include the following passage: "These islanders attach almost as much value to their pearls as we do".

Nowadays, international black pearl promotion campaigns make use of the idyllic atoll setting traditionally associated with pearls. The image of the 100% natural product helps in a way to preserve the Polynesian myth  of an untouched, unpolluted and exceptionally beautiful part of the world.

The present-day image of the pearl industry is therefore based on a mixture between the ancient and the modern, in much the same way as the Polynesian tourist industry with its luxury hotel complexes.