RAS AL KAIMAH, United Arab Emirates
A man uses a knife to extract a pearl from an oyster at RAK's oyster farm off the coast of Ras Al Kaimah,...
A man uses a knife to extract a pearl from an oyster at RAK's oyster farm off the coast of Ras Al Kaimah, one of the seven emirates that make up the United Arab Emirates, May 28, 2013. Abdulla al-Suwaidi dreamed of reviving a long-lost part of Middle Eastern culture when he seeded his first oyster with a tiny bead and placed it in the warm waters of the Gulf in 2004. Almost a decade later, the co-founder and vice-chairman of RAK Pearls is finally seeing the fruits of his labours with the first auction of cultured pearls from RAK's oyster farm off the coast of Ras Al Kaimah. RAK Pearls, the region's only cultured pearl producer, now has some 40,000 oysters bedded down in the Gulf's briny waters and in June the Dubai Multi Commodities Centre Authority (DMCC) held an exclusive auction for some of its produce. Picture taken May 28, 2013. REUTERS/Ahmed Jadallah (UNITED ARAB EMIRATES - Tags: SOCIETY BUSINESS)