In this Wednesday, April 4, 2012 photo, workers clean oyster shells before they take them to a laboratory for implanting in Ras al-Khaimah, United Arab Emirates. The oysters will then be implanted with a bead, which will coax the oysters to secrete nacre, which builds up in layers to form a cultured pearl. 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
