A Brief History of OceanShell & Its Supportive Role In The Pacific Shell Industry.

Over the past 30 years, Ocean Shell Limited, under the direction of Bruce and Richard Shields, have been the leading company in developing the Shell Trading in the Pacific.

Ocean Shell are involved in trading raw shell as well as manufacturing semi processed products and creating their own range of giftware, wood inlay and jewelry. This has given the company a thorough understanding of the industry from producer to the end consumer. Such a strong presence across the whole Pacific shell industry has provided invaluable economical support to island dwelling communities.

Trochus Shell Fisheries

Papua New Guinea

Papuan Trochus shells remain popular for the Button making industry.

Manus, Kavieng Alotau and Lae Islands are the main Papuan fisheries. Traditional fishing was initially dedicated to food supply only. More recently, being able to sell the shells to OceanShell’s local agents has provided a limited but valuable income for families living in remote areas where a subsistence existence is the norm. The Ocean resources are monitored by local National Fisheries Authority. Today, marine reserves are created and run by local communities to foster regeneration and growth in indigenous Ocean Species.

Fiji

Although not as developed as the Papuan Trochus Industry, Fijian shell has been an important supplementary income for coastal communities, harvesting from wild lagoons. Some Black Mother of Pearl farms still exist despite the collapse in the black pearl prices in the early 2000’s.

New Caledonia and The Solomon Islands Trochus

A very small trochus trading industry is known to support indigenous populations. The New Caledonian trochus is mainly considered too large and thick for button making but a great option for shell terrazzo chip.

Tahiti

Trochus Harvests occur in very specific locations only after approval but the Ministry of the Ocean. Purchase of the shell is by tender with one big trading day where all shells are brought into a weighing station and locals are paid on the spot for their shell. This is quite a party. Relationships with local leaders were established over time by Oceanshell owners, despite the language barrier!

Black Mother of Pearl Fisheries

Tahiti-French Polynesia

Black pearl farming has long been a traditional industry for small Polynesian communities, dating back to the 1960s. As a by product of farming, the shells were used for buttons, jewelry and interior surfaces as mosaic tiles or furniture inlay. The industry went through rapid growth as the number of farms multiplied through the 1980s, producing 2500 to 3000 tons of shell at its peak.

South Sea Pearl was new to the Jewelry market, and initially sold very well, at high prices. American customers visiting New Zealand were some of the most enthusiastic buyers in the 1990s

The same collapse in prices affected the Polynesian production, one of the examples being the closure of a dedicated Black Pearl selling enterprise in Queenstown in 2004. The number of farms also reduced, a situation compounded by COVID, where the pearl seed technicians were no longer able to travel from China to perform their craft. Shell production has now plummeted to 1000/1200 tons per annum.

In the hay days of pearl farming, Director of Oceanshell Bruce Shields had a well established relationship with farmers in Polynesia. For those who like a quirky story told in a whisper, he recounts having helped one of the farming communities financially, to secure employees for the pearl shell harvest. He later discovered that the money had been used for a more religious purpose than intended, making the retrieval of the funds rather difficult.

Today, the pearls being grown are smaller, which also results in growing smaller shells, in turn affecting the shell industry in its access to shell material as a byproduct. However, the silver lining is a higher suitability to the button making industry.

Cook Islands & Manahiki

A very small black lip oyster industry existed there, established in the 1980s and 90s producing 1 to 2 containers of shells per year. Once again those communities required assistance and support, and the supplementary income form pearl farming was a life line. Today, the future of black pearl farming is uncertain, as disease and ocean acidification threatens farming operations in the long term.