“I always say that all Bahrainis have a pearl diving in their blood,” said Mohamed Alslaise, a pearl diver and field researcher at the Bahrein Institute for pearls and gerenics (Danat). UN news. “Almost all the families that moved from the Arabian Gulf or the Iranian coast to Bahrein were divers.”
Mr. Alslaise is passionate about preserving and reliving this ancient tradition, points out that many families in the Gulf Nation have a member who was a pearl diver or contributed in some way to the pearl diving industry.
Pernando in the Persian Gulf shaped Bahrain’s economy for thousands of years, but, after a peak at the beginning of the 20th century, the perfection of the pearls cultivated by Japan in the 1930s caused an acute and devastating decrease in the industry.
Khaled Salman, a diver since the 1970s, explains that while diving continues, it is no longer made in the old way.
Bahraini Diver, Mohamed Alslaise extracting pearls from oysters.
“Today, large quantities are extracted due to advances in technology, which allows divers to remain underwater for longer periods. In the past, a diver would remain underwater for four minutes, but now the divers can remain underwater for an hour or more.”
Due to the lowest prices of pearls, Salman points out: “Many people do not sell the pearls they extract; they store them until prices increase and then sell them to merchants in Bahrain.”
Some pearls are used in local industries, while others are marketed outside Bahrein. It also highlights three types of pearls: synthetic, cultured and natural, and adds that “distinguishing between these types requires modern experience and equipment.”
The decrease in pearls also affected the Bahrain’s naval construction industry. Abdulla, a designer of wooden ships and ships for more than 35 years, shares his perspective: “Bahrain is famous for its naval construction industry, which was an integral part of the pearls. There are several types of ships, which vary according to the design, but now the smallest ships are used for the pears due to the decrease in demand.”
Wood for naval construction is imported from Africa and Singapore, and, says Abdulla, the useful life of a ship can extend beyond 100 years.
Abdulla, designer of wooden ships and boats for more than 35 years.
Folklore, songs and tradition
“Most Bahrain’s traditions are connected to the pearl diving industry. For example, pearl diving songs,” says Mr. Alslaise. “Pearl’s diving folklore has been transmitted by generations. We still sing the same songs, which originally sang to boost morality in boats.”
The historical site of Bahrein, known as the Pearl routeIt has been registered as a world heritage site by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). The site attests to the pearl tradition and wealth that it generated in the Gulf region for millennia.
According to UNESCO, the area consists of 17 buildings in the city of Murharraq, three oyster beds on the high seas, part of the seas shore and the Qal’at Bu Mahir fortress at the southern end of Muharaq Island, from where the ships used to go to the oyster beds.
There are stores, shops, a mosque and the houses of rich merchants in the area. According to UNESCO, the location is the only complete example of Perla’s cultural tradition and the wealth that produced during the period in which the Gulf economy was dominated by trade from the second century until Japan developed cultivated pearls.
It also constitutes an excellent example of traditional use of sea resources and human interaction with the environment, which gave both the economy and the cultural identity of the island’s cultural identity.
A band that plays a pearl diving song in Bahrain. The folklore of pearl diving has been transmitted by generations.
Pearling is back
“I am one of the people who fell in love with the diving of pearls without any orientation of my parents or family,” Mr. Alslaise. “The generation before us was not allowed to dive when they were young because, after oil was discovered, all works moved to the oil industry.”
According to Mr. Alslaise, since 2017, when Bahrein’s authorities introduced Pearl diving licenses, many people who registered had no prior knowledge of pearl diving.
“Now, seven years later, many Bahrainis have been connected with this heritage. More than 1,000 divers are now registered and submerged regularly to create an income for themselves.”