Learn About Pearls

What Is Pearl Farming?

Short answerPearl farming is the culture of pearl oysters and freshwater mussels to grow cultured pearls. Farmers raise or collect the mollusks, a technician implants a piece of mantle tissue, with a shell bead for most saltwater pearls, and the animals are tended in the water for months or years until the pearls are harvested. China grows over 98% of the world's cultured pearls by weight, almost all freshwater, while Japan has led saltwater pearl production for over a century.

On this page
  1. The stages of pearl farming
  2. How long pearls take to grow
  3. Where pearls are farmed

Pearl farming starts on purpose what happens only by accident in nature. Every cultured pearl is still grown by a living mollusk; the farmer’s job is to start the pearl and keep the animal healthy while it grows.

The stages of pearl farming#

Cultured pearl production typically has five stages: oyster selection, nucleus implantation, nurturing, harvesting and processing. Implantation is the key step.1 The page how pearl farms work walks through each one.

The mollusks come from two sources. Some farms collect wild oysters, as in Australia and French Polynesia, while others raise young oysters in hatcheries or catch them as larvae settle on collectors in the water.1 Western Australia has the only significant wild-stock pearl oyster fishery in the world, where divers collect Pinctada maxima under a yearly quota.2

How long pearls take to grow#

Growing times depend on the mollusk and the method, from months for some Akoya to years for freshwater and South Sea pearls. The table gives the ranges in the dataset; the page how long pearls take to grow explains them.

Mollusks, farming regions and growing times of the main cultured pearl types
Feature Akoya cultured pearlFreshwater cultured pearlSouth Sea cultured pearlTahitian cultured pearl
Mollusk Pinctada fucata (Akoya pearl oyster)3 4Hyriopsis cumingii (triangle shell mussel)3 4 5 6Pinctada maxima (silver-lipped pearl oyster and gold-lipped pearl oyster)3 7Pinctada margaritifera cumingii (black-lipped pearl oyster)3 8 9
Main producing regions Japan, China and Vietnam4 5 10China5 9 10Australia, Indonesia, the Philippines and Myanmar3 7 9 10French Polynesia3 9 10
Growing time 6–36 months (typically 10 to 14 months)5 10 111–5 years (depending on the culture method and mussel)1 6 121–3 years (two to three years in Australia and the Philippines)5 718–24 months5 13

Where pearls are farmed#

Cultured pearl farming supports industries in more than 30 countries, and China produces the most.1 From 2005 to 2014, China produced an average of 3,540 tonnes of pearls a year, over 98% of the world’s cultured pearl output, and 99.5% of China’s output was freshwater pearls.1

Saltwater pearls are a much smaller harvest. Because freshwater pearls sell for much less, China’s pearls, over 98% of the world’s output by weight, made up only about 5% of its value.1 From 2005 to 2014, Japan grew an average of 23 tonnes of marine pearls a year, China 18.6 tonnes and French Polynesia 12.9 tonnes, and Japan alone accounted for 51.6% of the world’s pearl output by value.1 Since 2021, after a mass die-off of oysters, Japan’s pearl farms have produced about 12 tonnes a year.10 The page where pearls come from goes country by country, and ethics and sustainability looks at farming’s effects on water, wild stocks and the animals. The pearl regions map shows the main producing countries of each type.

Start here#

  1. How pearl farms work
  2. How long pearls take to grow
  3. Where pearls come from
  4. Ethics and sustainability

Every page in this section#

References#

  1. Changbo Zhu, Paul C. Southgate and Ting Li (2019). Production of Pearls. Source · DOI 10.1007/978-3-319-96776-9_5 · Archived copy
  2. Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development, Government of Western Australia. Pearl oyster fishery in Western Australia. Source · Archived copy
  3. CIBJO, The World Jewellery Confederation, Pearl Commission (2026). The CIBJO Pearl Book (Pearl Blue Book) 2026. Source · Archived copy
  4. Phoebe Shang (2026). Freshwater Akoyas – A Trending Misnomer for Certain Freshwater Pearls. Source · Archived copy
  5. CIBJO Pearl Commission (2025). CIBJO Guides Describing and Classifying Natural and Cultured Pearls, the Producing Molluscs & Responsible Pearling. Source · Archived copy
  6. Doug Fiske and Jeremy Shepherd (2007). Continuity and Change in Chinese Freshwater Pearl Culture. Source · DOI 10.5741/GEMS.43.2.138 · Archived copy
  7. Artitaya Homkrajae, Nanthaporn Nilpetploy, Areeya Manustrong, Nicholas Sturman, Kwanreun Lawanwong and Promlikit Kessrapong (2021). Internal Structures of Known Pinctada maxima Pearls: Cultured Pearls from Operated Marine Mollusks. Source · DOI 10.5741/GEMS.57.3.186 · Archived copy
  8. Assemblée de la Polynésie française (Journal officiel de la Polynésie française) (2017). Loi du pays n° 2017-16 du 18 juillet 2017 réglementant les activités professionnelles liées à la production et la commercialisation des produits perliers et nacriers en Polynésie française. Source · Archived copy
  9. Gemological Institute of America (GIA), Gem Encyclopedia. Pearl Description. Source · Archived copy
  10. Fisheries Agency of Japan (水産庁) (2026). 真珠養殖をめぐる情勢について (On the situation of pearl culture). Source · Archived copy
  11. Areeya Manustrong (2018). Very Small Akoya Cultured Pearls. Source · Archived copy
  12. Shigeru Akamatsu, Li Tajima Zansheng, Thomas M. Moses and Kenneth Scarratt (2001). The Current Status of Chinese Freshwater Cultured Pearls. Source · DOI 10.5741/GEMS.37.2.96 · Archived copy
  13. Oïhana Latchere and others (2018). Influence of water temperature and food on the last stages of cultured pearl mineralization from the black-lip pearl oyster Pinctada margaritifera. Source · DOI 10.1371/journal.pone.0193863 · Archived copy
Written by
Learn About Pearls editors
Fact-checked
Learn About Pearls editors,
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Simon,
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Publisher
Unique Pearl, a pearl jeweler
Revision history
  1. : First published. First published
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APA
Learn About Pearls editors. (2026). What Is Pearl Farming? Learn About Pearls. https://learnaboutpearls.com/farming/
MLA
“What Is Pearl Farming?” Learn About Pearls, Unique Pearl, November 4, 2026, learnaboutpearls.com/farming/.
Chicago
Learn About Pearls editors. “What Is Pearl Farming?” Learn About Pearls. Unique Pearl. Last modified November 4, 2026. https://learnaboutpearls.com/farming/.
BibTeX
@misc{lap-farming, title = {What Is Pearl Farming?}, author = {{Learn About Pearls editors}}, year = {2026}, howpublished = {\url{https://learnaboutpearls.com/farming/}}, note = {Learn About Pearls, published by Unique Pearl}}

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  • How pearls form: How natural and cultured pearls grow inside a mollusk, layer by layer.
  • Pearl types: Akoya, freshwater, South Sea, Tahitian and keshi pearls, and where each one comes from.