In this Wednesday, April 4, 2012 photo, a pearl diver pulls up a basket full of oyster shells from the bottom of the sea, in Ras al-Khaimah, United Arab Emirates. After cleaning, these oyster shells will be taken to the laboratory. Long before the discovery of oil transformed the Gulf, the region's pearl divers were a mainstay of the economy. Their way of life, however, also was changed forever after Japanese researchers learned how to grow cultured pearls in 1930s. Now a collaboration between pearl traders in Japan and the United Arab Emirates had brought oyster farming to the UAE for the first time.
Section:Photo
