It is well known that Qatar is known for her vast pearl diving. Pearl diving (or pearl hunting as its widely called) is the act of getting pearls from wild mollusks, usually oysters or mussels, in the sea or fresh water. Pearls known as the mother of all jewels was commonly hunted around the Persian Gulf and in Qatar in particular.
Pearls in a fish?
Yes, am sure you are wondering why instead of diving to getting oysters for food, it’s main purpose is for pearls. Now this is what happens. Researches reveals that the mother of all jewels are formed when a foreign object finds its way into the shell of an oyster, mussel, or other mollusk and becomes trapped. This object can be a parasite, grain of sand, or small piece of shell, but more commonly it is a food particle.
Then to protect itself from the particle, the mollusk releases layers of aragonite (the mineral calcium carbonate) and conchiolin (a protein). Over a period of two to five years, these layers build up and form a pearl. In oysters and freshwater mussels, nacre (mother of pearl) gives pearls their natural luster. Pearls from other mollusks have a porcelain-like texture and don’t shine like pearls with nacre do.
Reasons to travel to Qatar
Looking for a reason to travel to Qater, now you have one. Not only do they have the best of lustering pearls, they also have an annual festival to that effect, usually, held the June-September fishing season.
Pearls to Oil
Indeed, Qatar Pearl business was one of her main industries until the mid 90’s when oil replaced it. After being the major industry of the area for thousands of years, pearl diving was fast becoming a stale profession. Following the introduction of Japanese cultured pearls and the Great Depression the pearl became unprofitable for Qatar, hence the discovery of the onshore Dukhan oil field, Qatar joined the Middle East’s oil club.
Qatar electric vehicles
Qatar is fast on the rise as it announced today that the country had concluded plans to produce first Qatari electric cars by 2023. Sources disclosed that the Qatari electric vehicles will be manufactured by the factory which will be established at a cost of nine billion dollars.
The Chairman of the Qatar Quality company Ali al-Misnad, the project will be the first-of-its-kind in the Middle East as it is a whole new brand. Al-Misnad also said that the new giant project aims to manufacture more than 500,000 cars by 2024 with plans to export the electric vehicles to countries all over the world.
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