2024环境与生物化学研究推动珍珠消费需求复苏报告

By Kenneth Scarratt, PresidentCIBJO Pearl Commission Pearls, a 62-page illustrated document that provides anoverarching view of natural and cultured pearls, is nowavailable for free download from https://cibjo.org/pearl-guide/ in English (the official version), Japanese, Thai andFrench, with Italian coming to the website soon. The CIBJO Pearl Commission continues its work inupdating and improving its Blue Book and guides,following the successful 2023 congress in Jaipur,India. Following the 2024 congress in Shanghai, work willbegin on updating the entire guide. The informative andwell received document “The Environmental, Social and The Guide for Classifying Natural Pearls and Cultured CIBJO SPECIAL REPORT 2024PEARL COMMISSIONPAGE 1 Microplastics and their potential impacton ‘pearl oysters’ – An update In our 2023 Special Report we highlighted that potentialimpact of the presence of microplastics (MPs) in the marineenvironment where “pearl oysters” are present, both in thewild and in culturing farms. We reported that in the naturalpearling beds of the UAE‘s northern shores, the Arabian andAndaman Sea, Southern Iran, the Argentinean estuaries,East China Sea, China, and India there is an abundance ofmicroplastics, both in sediments and the oysters themselves.Additionally, we cited reports stating that, in culturing areas,important evidence has been collected that indicates thatexposure to MPs may impact the appearance of biomineralsandthe expression of biomineralisation-related genes,posing a new potential threat to aquatic organisms. Over the past year we have continued to monitor researchreports concerning MPs within the pearling enviroments(Habib 2022) and note that considerable research is on-goingand becoming more specific in its focus. Lu et.al., in their paper “Effects of polyvinyl chloridemicroplastic on pearl oyster (Pinctada fucata martensii),(Lu 2024), observed that PVC-MPs had a negative effect inthat exposure altered the immune, antioxidant and digestivesystems, and that PVC-MPs caused oxidative stress, immunedistortation and digestive impairment. Economic Impact of Natural and Cultured Pearls,” agreedupon during the Jaipur congress, is now available at https://cibjo.org/the-environmental-social-and-economic-impact-of-natural-and-cultured-pearls/.Additionally,the Engishversion of the CIBJO’s Do’s & Don’ts Guide has been updatedat https://cibjo.org/dos-donts-guide/. However, another study by Mkuys et.al., “The impactsofPVC microplastics on physiology and transcriptomicresponses of pearl oysterPinctada fucata martensii” (Mkuye2024), reported that an examination of pearl retention rateand thickness revealed no significant differences acrosstreatments. This indicated that short-term PVC MPs exposuredid not notably affect pearl oysters’ capability to retain thenucleus or form pearl layers, and highlightedPinctada fucatamartensii‘s pearl retention and thickening resilient ability toPVC MPs. With regards the CIBJO Pearl Blue Book, in recent monthsthePearl Commission Steering Committee,followingarecommendation made during the Jaipur congress,reassessed the manner in which the bleaching1of pearlsshould be addressed. This has at its core an awareness that itis in the best interests of the trade for consumers to be fullyinformed with regards to all treatments applied to pearls,both natural and cultured. There is still much to learn from the enormous body of workbeing published, but given the already significant pollutionchallenges within our oceans and waterways it might beprudent to continually monitor the presence of MP’s withinpearling waters and also report the disposal of fishing gearand plastics in general, from which the MP’s originate. In the past, a “grandfathered” exception has been madefor the practice of bleaching that allowed for a non-specific(general)disclosure,but in the interests of protectingconsumer confidence long-term, the Steering Committee willbe suggesting during the Shanghai congress that the practiceof bleaching shall henceforth be specifically declared forboth natural and cultured pearls. An interesting insight gained from the current reportedresearch is that ‘bivalves can contribute to the removal andtrapping of MPs” (Abdel Ghani 2023), although one has towonder upon the eventual impact on this amazing marinelife. For example, Abd-Elkader et.al., report that in the RedSea “Bivalves [including the Pearl OysterP. radiata] exhibited Current status of the Akoya pearl industryin Japan CONTRIBUTION BY RYUICHORO MACHIZAWA Japan’s export and import performance in fiscal 2023 almostrecovered to pre-pandemic levels, and in terms of value greweven larger. One of the most remarkable results was the importvalue, which jumped 109.7 percent to 71.2 billion yen from33.9 billion yen in the previous year (see Table 1, Page 4).Comparing long-term differences in exports and imports,the extent of the import surplus tended to lessen after the2008 financial crisis (See Table 2, Page 4