April 10, 2000

by Michael Field

Four years ago they were just 700 people desperately clinging to life as a powerful cyclone over-whelmed their lonely and remote atoll -- today they’re becoming the richest people in the Pacific.

But the people of Manihiki, a number of whom have become millionaires, do not forget how fragile their life is.

“That cyclone made us realise we can wake up one morning and it will all be gone,” Manihiki’s member of parliament, Robert Woonton, said.

“They hit rock bottom after that cyclone.”

The same Pacific which killed swept 20 of them to their death and saw just under half the people evacuated by the New Zealand air force is bringing them the glittering wealth of black pearls.

Part of the Cook Islands, Manihiki is an atoll of 25 tiny islets just above sea-level scattered around a 120 square kilometre (48 square mile) lagoon, 3,800 kilometres (2,400 miles) north-east of here.

On November 1, 1997, Cyclone Martin slammed into Manihiki, forcing people into open boats as all the land disappeared. There were fears that the black-lipped oyster beds may have been destroyed in the mighty surge which swept away people.

Statistics from the Cook Island’s Government in Rarotonga, 1,675 kilometres (1,308 miles) to the south, reveal that last year black pearl exports, most from Manihiki, were worth 18.4 million NZ dollars (7.4 million US) -- that’s around 26,000 for every person on the atoll. The year before the cyclone pearls were worth 1.5 million dollars.

Woonton said the money was making a big difference to the islanders.

“They’ve even bought a ship and they’ve invested their money safely. Many have bought homes in Rarotonga, knowing their vulnerability on Manihiki,” he said.

Life on the outer islands was always tough but now on Manihiki they’ve got freezers, generators, four-wheel drives, good outboard motors and satellite television.

“Its pretty good for the people now, but it hasn’t changed them that much. They are still strong with their culture, they’re still close.”

Although not at all traditional, black pearls are now marketed as a Polynesian icon, set against the golden brown skin of Polynesian women, as classic as the tattoo band and the frangipani in the hair.

The pearls, much bigger than Japan's white akoya pearls, range in colour from the deepest black, through green and silver to almost white. A good black pearl can fetch up to 20,000 U.S. dollars.

Wild pearls have long provided modest income in the Cooks, particularly in Penrhyn where men had reputations for their ability to deep-dive. Black pearling in the Cook’s owe their origin to French Polynesian Yves Tchen Pan who bought the once secret business of seeding to Manihiki. The United States Agency for International Development also had a hand in the development when it funded a spat hatchy in 1994 on Tongareva.

Manihiki around 1.5 million oysters are concentrated in three places, making them vulnerable to a disease which hit them last year. Expects expect it will cost Manihiki 34 million NZ dollars over five years to recover to normal production levels. Better layouts of the farms will reduce the disease threat and increase the oyster population to around four million.

Woonton says the promise of much greater wealth has bought Manihiki people back from New Zealand.

Kiribati, the Marshall Islands and the Solomons are working on turning atolls into pearl farms, while the Cook Islands is expanding to Penrhyn to the north and Suwarrow.

In neighbouring French Polynesia black pearl exports in 1999 earned 22.4 billion French Pacific Francs (CFP) (200 million US) and now other nations and developers are moving into the lucrative trade.

Last month the first black pearls auction of the year in French Polynesia was deemed a disappointment due to low attendance by international buyers, netting 608 million CFP against the expected 750 million CFP. Sellers say a divided market producing smaller pearls was responsible for the price falls.

Territorial President Gaston Flosse said after the auction the main cause of the depreciation had been the prescence of bad quality pearls.

The government would make the pearl quality classification more stringent and exclude poor quality pearls from marketable categories.

The Cooks wants to expand and an Australian, Peter Rimington recently put up a six million US dollars plan to develop Suwarrow Atoll, an unoccupied, pristine atoll that is home to millions of birds. In the face of heavy public objection the government last week announced they were giving up Suwarrow’s development and would make it a national park instead.

Meanwhile Manihiki’s first pearl farmer, Tekake Williams, has been generous with his good fortune. Last year he gave a rosary of black pearls to Fiji’s President Ratu Sir Kamisese Mara. Williams had never met Mara but the early 90s Williams and his sons had helped recover the body of a Fijian knocked overboard from a ship. The man’s family later gave Williams a tabua or whale's tooth as thanks and Williams used Mara’s birthday to renew the link with Fiji.

And a year after the cyclone Williams donated three spectacular perfectly round pearls to pay for a new church to replace the one lost to the waves.

Copyright: Michael Field