Page 149 - Bahrain Gov Annual Reports (III)_Neat

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THE DIVING INDUSTRY.
In 1363 the diving industry suffered a severe setback. Only 188 boats went out from Bahrain
to the pearl banks which was the lowest number on record in 19 years. In other states in the Gulf
the diving fleets were even more reduced than in Bahrain.

brom 1344 Ml I35°» *925—I93I» between 504 and 538 boats were registered each year for diving.
No written records exist before 1342 but there is every reason to believe that the fleet before this
year was considerably larger and amounted to not less than 600 vessels. The Dawasir tribe who
used to live at Budcya had 130 diving dhows, in the year under review only four dhows went diving
from Budeya. When the Bahrain diving fleet numbered five or six hundred boats at least 20,000
men earned their livelihood from diving so almost the whole population was supported by this
industry.

In later years there was a decline in the number of diving boats with slight revivals after good
seasons. The number of men who were employed decreased but not in strict ratio to the number of
boats because these varied greatly in size and in the number of the crew. In 1363 the number of
men employed in diving fell to about 5,000.
Year. No. of Year. No. of Year. No. of
boats. boats. boats.

1351 456 1356 271 1360 222
1352 436 1357 252 1361 298
1353 340 1358 219 1362 277
1354 316 1359 191 1363 188
1355 264
The decrease in the number of men diving was not because the Nakhudas could not offer
employment to divers. Though the war closed all markets except India there was still a demand for
pearls and people engaged in the trade did well during the last two or three seasons. The high cost
of provisioning boats did not make the financing of them an uneconomic venture and when supplies
are cheaper, after the war, diving should become a more profitable affair. It can reasonably be hoped
that when conditions return to normal there will be a demand for pearls in those countries to which
no pearls have been sent during the war years.

The chief causes for the decrease in the number of Bahrain divers were ; the lucrative employ­
ment which for the time being was available on shore, the demand for boats to be used in trading
or for carrying stone which produced bigger profits than diving and also, to a less extent, the changing
outlook of the younger generation of Arabs, not the Bahama in the villages but especially those
living in Muharraq and Hedd where in the past most of the divers were recruited. Youths with
even a slender degree of education do not readily take to pearl diving though they may be sons of
divers or Nakhudas or of pearl merchants who started life as ordinary divers and eventually became
well-to-do men. Most of the leading Nakhudas and the older generation of pearl merchants were
once divers themselves and the majority of them are illiterate though none the less capable of
conducting their business.
Bahrain has been dependent on the pearl industry for centuries and until recent times it provided
work for many more men than those who are now employed or likely to be employed in future in the
local oil industry. It would be regrettable and a misfortune for Bahrain were this very ancient indus­
try to die out and there seems some danger of this happening. Possibly when the war is over there
will be a revival in diving which will offset the unemployment which is likely to exist when various
war works are completed. A year or two ago there was unemployment in Bahrain and though
permanent channels of employment are now greater than before, the population has undoubtedly
increased, by an influx of foreign Arabs, and when the building schemes which are now being carried
out are completed many thousands of people will be thrown out of work.