Paspaley

Paspaley Pearling Company is the world's leading producer of fine quality cultured Australian South Sea pearls – the rarest and most valuable of all cultured pearls combining unrivalled size, nacre quality and natural colour and lustre. Paspaley is the preferred supplier of South Sea pearls to many of the world's leading jewellery retailers and wholesalers.

Our reputation is built on a foundation of trust, respect and integrity which transcends generations. A passion for excellence and commitment to quality is at the heart of everything we do. It is with the same passion and excitement that we approach and build long-term partnerships with our wholesale and retail customers.

Our pearls are distributed through international, by-invitation only auctions and private sales.

In 2021, Paspaley launched an industry first trade-only online portal, allowing registered partners access to a wide range of single pearls, pairs, bracelets and strands.

Discover more: wholesale.paspaley.com

 Australian South Sea pearls are the rarest and most valuable of all pearl types. The South Sea pearl oyster, the Pinctada maxima, is the largest and rarest pearl oyster and produces the finest pearl nacre of any mollusc.

From our humble beginnings in the 1930s, originally as a natural pearling company, we have built our success through Australian South Sea pearl cultivation. Paspaley’s Pinctada maxima pearl farms are located across Western Australia and the Northern Territory, ranging from Gove in the Northern Territory to Exmouth in Western Australia.

Paspaley’s Pinctada maxima oysters are obtained through a combination of wild oysters hand collected by our divers and hatchery production. While the hand collection of wild Pinctada maxima oysters by our divers is logistically complex, it is a sustainable collection method.

Paspaley regularly engages in ecological risk assessments of the Pinctada maxima oyster to assess the impact of its pearling operations and activities on the environment in which it operates. The assessment, conducted by the Western Australia Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development, conforms to AS/NZS ISO 31000 Risk Management Standard. Results of the latest assessment, conducted in 2023, did not yield any high risks, with the majority of metrics determined to be low or negligible risk. This assessment is valid until 2027 when the next assessment will take place.

The combination of stable long-term trends with minimal ecological risks, has supported Paspaley being re-certified as sustainable by the Marine Stewardship Council in 2023 with the following Certificate Number: MSC-F-30005. The Marine Stewardship Council is an international non-profit organisation that certifies under their Fisheries Standard.

This certification is valid from 2023 to 2028 and was independently evaluated by bio.inspecta and accredited by ASI under the ASI-ACC-041 voluntary sustainability standard.

Discover more: www.australiansouthseapearls.com

Mother of pearl is a natural product extracted from the Pinctada maxima oyster shell.

The mother of pearl itself is a composition of aragonite crystals and other organic materials. Paspaley’s mother of pearl is used in a number of global luxury good applications including fine jewellery, watch dials and luxury buttons.

Paspaley’s divers collect wild P. maxima pearl oysters for mother of pearl primarily on benthic pearl oyster beds at 10-30m depth across two broad locations. The first is between Exmouth and Broome, Western Australia, and the second is between Darwin and Gove, Northern Territory.

Paspaley’s pearling operations and activities are regulated under the Western Australia’s Pearling Act 1990 and Northern Territory’s Fisheries Act 1988. This is implemented through a combination of licences and a quota system that sets out the maximum number of Pinctada maxima oysters that can be farmed each year. Due to managed regulation, Pinctada maxima oysters have followed relatively stable long-term trends.

Strict adherence to rigorous legislative and regulatory processes and systems, while operating in remote marine waters, support long-term and stable Pinctada maxima oyster population trends.

Waste Discharge Licence

• NT Environment Protection Licence