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Pearl Shell Diving Broome, Australia
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Luke Martin on
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Ace, what I know is when I was a Pearl Farm Diver it was the hardest work out yet, 5 hours underwater then the rest of the time spent deck handing soughting shell cleaning spat (baby pearl shell). 12 hour shift all for a $190 a day AU they demand their pound of flesh. We were told if your good you can go drift diving ( what your interested in) . . It's dangerous, long days, hookah %100 02 at 5m deco but a good drifter - $1000 per day the season runs for 3 months. Food, accomodation and washing all included. Most of these guys just do a drift season then go back to running their surf shops and smoking bongs . . Awesome!!. Yeah but the pay is getting s***ter, used to be $5 per shell and now around $2.50 and the shell is thinning out. Also the economic downturn forced Paspaley, Kailis and Arafura Pearls to sack hundreds of workers, so if you want to make it onto a drift team you want to have the credentials. . They love spearo's they have a sharp eye which it is mainly what it is about and are good kickers, fit! There are some talented drifters out their, it does take practice. Yeah so it is slowly starting up again, ive been told I may be on one drift seasons coming up dependant if drifting is worth it. In my opinion the Pearl Divers are the best divers I've woked with, they go hard for very little money (exept drifters) . Better than alot of commerciall and navy guys exept they get a bit spooked in nill viz, it's all hookah work you and find yourself bailing out 5 times per day.
So yeah broom is an awesome place to live, it has big pearling culture their, The pearling industirie is a place you'll do the hard yard for very little money but you'll be a good diver for it!! At the moment I know of companies looking for good divers on the farms, I can point you or anyone in the right direction.
If you were a good drifter it can be worth cracking a crew and flying in and out each yeah interstate and country. . Anyway thats what i know any further questions I may be able to answer maybe. ok
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Permalink Reply by A.. Parnell on
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What a cool photo I want to go I spent 9 yrs doing similar work.
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Yeah taken by a professional photographer . . sadly not me
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Permalink Reply by matt sykes on
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hey guys and gals
i've worked the pearling game for 5years previous to last when i got comercially ticketed and did some onshore construction diving after getting made redundant from kailis. not all that that bad a deal i must say the package paid for my adas course to 50m.
luke has hit the nail on the head the long days required as a farm diver to ensure ur place on the drift boat were some of the hardest dive days i've put busting my arse hauling ropes by hand cleaning up after cylcones and the monotenous shell cleaning programs.
but also a hell of a lot of fun for a young bloke some of the best times of my life had in exmouth and broome turning panels and repairing longlines and the abundance of tasty fishes to be speared on the farms.
getting into the industry to get a line as drifter would be bloody hard coming straight from construction with no exp into pearling, usually the requirement is a year or two on the farms looking after stock, before the skippers are gonna be sure u not gonna be out a sea wasting their time getting towed around looking at fish and not picking up shells.
the season is dictated by the weather to avoid the danger and low vis caused by cyclones divers are relegated to farm diving from june to january which involves boat mooring, and longline mooring maintence and instalition. also juvenile shells are care for by divers on botton farms the rest by a casual workforce on the surface in number of barge like cleaning vessels consisting of backpackers and young locals.
in feb the drift boats start firing up after their offseason of running supplys and gear to the farms scattered throughout the kimberly wildernes an awesome place full a crocodiles, untold numbers of tasty fish and scenery only seen in postcards and calenders.
in 2weeks i'm making the 2200 km drive to broome from perth to begin riggin the boat for drifting. we have got a 65000 quota from fisheries a moderate size and at $3.50 a shell i'm hoping to catch my approx 1/7th share in under 2 months.
the drifting boat is a 25m ex prawn trawler with 16m booms either side towing 3 divers a side at approx 1.2kts for 9 X 50min dives a day with 100% O2 hangoffs at 8.5m. the spare diver on the day is rested with deck work after scoring the lowest the previous day, (creates a hell of lot of competitivness when u get paid solely on what u personally catch)
i'm looking forward to this season and praying to king neptune for the cyclones to miss the fishing grounds, the vis to be clear and the backpacker hostels to be stocked with nubile backpacker la****.
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drift vessel 'Parmelia K.' deploying anchors in offseason at exmouth gulf
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Hey Luke and Matt thank you two for providing me with just the kind of information I was looking for. I spent 9 years diving urchin in California so I kinda know something about the hard work end of the industry. That is not to say I know anything about pearl shell diving as only read about it a lot. I have dived in Australia some years ago on the Barrier Reef out of Gladstone and Herron Island and presently have a good friend who lives on the other Coast just North of Brisbane anyway He keeps asking me to come back for a visit to Australia for a season.
I would really like to try my hand at pearl shell diving. I just rememberer that I first learned to hookah dive in Australia yep up on Herron Island just out of Gladstone one of your u/w photographers Ben Cropp I ran into invited me out on his boat to first dive hookah while there on a visit. Small World hun.
I really appreciate your replies. You guys are awesome.
Aloha,
Ace Parnell
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Permalink Reply by Bill Gardner on
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Thats great guys-its fun to hear about different diving skills for different applications....out of the routine const/offshore stuff...
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Hey Bill I agree with you its nice to change up and do something diffrent for a change- thanks for your post. yea Buddy !
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Hey Ace, I met Ben & Eva Cropp in Oz I understand there is a different Mrs. Cropp now. I was working in Bass Strait and met another real character doing cleanup-Henri Bource (RIP) -the' A shark took my leg' diver. What a place for a 19 year old diver, me.
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Bill small World again, While on Herron Island Ben and Eva were filming for some u/w special or whatever it was and thats-when they invited me on board to try the hookah rig. At the time I had dived old Navy Mark V but never hookah. Did you know that Ben in those early days of u/w photography contests like 1964 era was voted World Underwater Photographer of the Year in a Santa Monica u/w film festival, I learned that some time later,not a bad accomplishment hun.
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This is a pic of henri immediately after amputation by shark
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