Page 211 - UAE Truncal States_Neat
P. 211

Chapter Five

                  Pearling by foreigners
                  As has been mentioned earlier, the pearl banks near the southern
                  shores of the Gulf were considered by all the Arabs  as common
                  property; they did not belong to individual sheikhdoms. This
                  situation was respected by the pearling communities from the
                  Persian Coast, some of whom, by virtue of their also being of Arab
                  tribal origin, might have come to fish on the Arab pearling banks but
                  for the great distance from home.
                    When the demand and the price for pearls increased, complete
                  outsiders were not slow to come in with the intention of securing for
                  themselves a share of this obviously quite profitable industry. Many
                  individuals and companies who tried to gel a foothold in the pearling
                  industry in the Gulf reckoned that by using modern diving equip­
                  ment they would make the process of collecting the oysters from the
                  sea-bed faster and therefore more profitable. The first such attempt
                  was made in 1857 by two British people resident in Bombay: when an
                  enquiry about the possibility of their participating in the pearl diving
                  reached the British Political Resident in Bushire, his reaction was to
                  advise strongly against such an attempt because the Arab pearl-
                  diving community could not be expected to suffer such interference
                  with their prime source of income.10 Throughout the latter half of the
                  19th century several more such enquiries reached the Government of
                  India, whose policy remained unchanged, and in cases where boats
                  of Indian or foreign origin arrived on the pearl banks without first
                  contacting the Government’s representatives such intruders were
                  removed from the scene by a naval escort.
                    The question became more complicated when other foreign
                  powers were involved. In 1899/1900 the Turkish Government was
                  considering selling a concession for part of the pearl fisheries in the
                  Gulf, a step which, besides harming the economy of the littoral Arab
                  communities, would have seriously undermined the British position
                  in the Gulf and once again have set in motion the discussion over
                  the issue of declaring the Gulf a mare clausum for the purpose of
                  pearl diving. But ever since this formula had been first considered in
                  1862, the Government of India time and again decided against
                  such a formal announcement, because such a declaration would only
                 have drawn unnecessary attention from America and European
                 powers.
                   After various firms had made numerous attempts to enter into this

                 186
   206   207   208   209   210   211   212   213   214   215   216