Picture: Mohammad al-Saleh, posted on Flickr, July 31 2008.
Due to the dominance of oil, diving for pearls as an industry was left by the wayside, but in recent years this traditional skill has been making a comeback. Our Kuwaiti observer takes us off shore with these treasure hunters.
Historically, the best natural pearls come from the Persian Gulf, particularly Bahrain. The pearls from this region have an
exceptional sheen thanks to the mixture of salty and sweet waters in the Gulf.
But at the beginning of the 20th century, the discovery of huge oilfields in the Gulf and the competition from Japan's oyster farms put an end to this traditional industry.
However, over the past few years, several Gulf countries have been trying to revive the tradition. Qatar celebrates this activity during a special cultural week every year, while Kuwait inaugurated the Pearl Diving Festival, which aims to
recreate the traditional pearl divers routes. Bahrain has now prohibited the import of farmed pearls and lodged an appeal Wednesday at Unesco for pearl diving to be protected.
Contributors
Mohammad al-...
The return of the pearl divers in Kuwait
أنت غير مسجل في موقع فريق التصوير والتوثيق . للتسجيل الرجاء إضغط هنـا
.:: مركز العمل التطوعي = فريق التصوير والتوثيق ::. 
العرض الشجري
