Florida Atlantic University’s Oceanographic Institute in Harbor Branch, Florida received a grant from the State of Florida to commercialize a process the institute developed for creating pearls. The process provides an alternative seeding method to grow or culture pearls in the queen conch, a threatened species found in Florida.
Researchers at the institute discovered the seeding technique using two different methods, developed from processes used by freshwater mussels and marine pearl oysters. They were successful in adapting these techniques into a seeding process for the queen conch. In addition, the technique does not harm the queen conch host. Because of over-fishing the number of queen conchs has dwindled. For this project, queen conchs are farmed in aquaculture tanks, with the cultured pearls in the initial harvest grown in an aquaculture facility at Harbor Branch.
Rose Pearl LLC, a company formed in August 2010, serves as the institute’s industry partner. The company will help build production capacity and infrastructure, begin test-marketing and establish wholesale distribution channels. Under the terms of the grant, Rose Pearl must match the $65,000 awarded to the institute for this project.
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