The culture technique used is the extensive type, offering protection against predators using suspended plastic cages. The practice of culture consists in the following stages:

1.

The collection is different for every species and consists in: The plastic cages placing, filled with plastic mesh, tied up in groups of 5 to a 5/16” long rope and to a perpendicular long-line for the collection of “concha nacar” seeds; for the collection of mother pearl, an onion sacks are tied up in groups of three making a total of 33 per 5/16” line, held to the long-line in a perpendicular way.

The collection is made once a year, December, January, February, March and April is the period for “concha nacar” and July, August and September for mother pearl, the separation of seeds from the collectors consists in the manual separation of the seeds, on the ground under a shadow. The number of seeds per collector for “concha nacar” is 350 ? 40 juveniles (16.5 ? 0.5 mm high). For mother pearl about 35 organisms per collector are got (10.0 ? 5.0 mm high). The collection is realized in the long-lines in front of the Gaviota Island. Only the necessary number of collectors are placed on the long-lines to avoid the seed capture above the capacity of the project. The seeds in both cases are not transferred, they are sown in the same collection site.

2.

Pregrowing, 15-45 mm high sub-adults.

The separated seeds are placed in 8 mm (nominal size) triangular cages being around 500 animals per unit, the cages are tied up to the long-line in series of 5, the maintenance consists in every other month cleaning.

3.

Growth, 45-70 mm high organisms.

The juveniles are separated and placed in 16 mm (nominal size) triangular cages, similar to the former stage, the density of culture is 250, 125, 100 and 50 organisms per cage in changes of every 3 months.

4.

Maintenance of implanted organisms (adults of 60-80 mm high one year after the implantation).

The organisms of 60-80 mm high (between 12 and 18 months of culture according to the growth) are manually cleaned, and separated to be transferred to the plant on the ground for the implantation following the techniques established by the company. Once the organisms are implanted, they’re placed in cages being 40 individuals per unit, the maintenance is done every three months.

Culture organization

The long-lines consist in: A 5/8” polypropylene rope, 100 m long, with an articulated and protected ends. This line is joined in both tips to an anchorage system that consists of a secured line of 45 m long, fixed to a ½” chain 10 m long, made of steel also joined with a shackle to an anchor Danforth type to 40 ton, buried into the sediment.

The culture cages consist in: A 0.45 m base, 0.3 m high and 1 m long plastic mesh triangle even 8 or 16 mm (nominal size), the joints are made with no.18 Nylon tarmac thread. The triangles are crossed through the vertex by a ½” PVC tube tied up to 2 5/16” ropes to be held to the long-line like swings. Every swing or unit consists in 5 triangles in a series. The collectors are installed to the long lines at the same site. The used culture structures are:

The long-lines are: 4 lines. On the surface, the culture sets only will show the supporting floats set every 25 lineal meters, each one with a minimum volume of 250 dm3. The area that the culture installation occupies is 32,000 m2 in a rectangle of 180 X 200 m, where every culture line occupies 180 lineal meters in surface and has a separation of 50 m with the other line to allow navigation and operation handlings.