Unfortunately, in 1914, when the production of mother-of-pearl and natural pearls was at its peak, the Vivès facilities were looted and destroyed by the Constitutionalist army troops.
From that moment on, all the pearls would only be obtained from natural banks, which is why they proceeded to massive and irrational exploitation. In the late 1930s, the remaining oyster beds off the coasts of Sonora, Sinaloa, Nayarit and Baja California Sur were devastated by an inexplicable mortality.
It was never known what caused the catastrophe, although several hypotheses were formulated: a natural epidemic, or the unlikely poisoning induced by the Japanese; or the blame is attributed to the fact that the fishermen threw the mollusk meat back into the sea, on the same banks; over fishing and illegal capture; the decrease of tributaries on the coasts of Sonora, used for irrigation and their contamination with pesticides; and it could even have been due to natural phenomena, such as a “Niño” year, or by the decrease in the contributions of the Colorado River (due to the operation of the “Hoover” dam).
It was never known what caused the catastrophe, although several hypotheses were formulated: a natural epidemic, or the unlikely poisoning induced by the Japanese; or the blame is attributed to the fact that the fishermen threw the mollusk meat back into the sea, on the same banks; over fishing and illegal capture; the decrease of tributaries on the coasts of Sonora, used for irrigation and their contamination with pesticides; and it could even have been due to natural phenomena, such as a “Niño” year, or by the decrease in the contributions of the Colorado River (due to the operation of the “Hoover” dam).
Thus, after nearly 450 years of exploitation, the Pearls of the Sea of Cortez became a Legend … Read more about History of the Pearl in the Sea of Cortez here.
here.
