Q Life Magazine Q Magazine December 2016 | Page 46
| Issue 1
Pearl Diving
A Celebration of
Traditional Culture
Every year in May, dhow boats appear just off the coast of Qatar, bobbing peacefully
on the calm, blue-green Gulf water. The boats carry pearl divers, who intermittently
descend to the seabed and rise with many pearl producing clams.
T
hese divers are part of the
annual Senyar competition,
which commemorates Qatar’s
prominent pearl diving past.
The team that collects the most
clams wins the competition and a
$100,000 prize, but they don’t open
the clams—preserving the pearls and
the local ecosystem. predators, and more. Divers tied
weights to their feet to reach the
seabed quickly and ropes to their
waists to return to the surface. The
most adept divers could stay under
water for over two minutes, and to
this day pearl divers continue to
free dive, often unaided by
advanced equipment.
Prior to the discovery of oil in Qatar,
pearl diving was one of the country’s
main sources of income, and
demand for pearls around the world
kept the industry bustling. But overcoming the challenges
paid off—the sought-after pearls
supported a large segment of the
country’s economy for many years,
selling across the globe, from India to
Europe and everywhere in between.
Opening Qatar to the World
The job was not always safe, as
divers faced a myriad of challenges:
trips at sea that sometimes lasted
six months, lack of fresh water,
46
Honouring a Maritime
Tradition
With the discovery of oil, the country
grew less dependent on pearl diving.
And with the advent of Japanese
artificial pearls in the 1930s, the
industry lost its profitability.
However, the tradition of pearl
diving remains an important part
of Qatari history. Many families
depended on it for decades, and—
with many Qataris born and living
near the coast—the sea has remained
a prominent fixture in daily life.
Thus, the annual Senyar was
established to keep this vital aspect
of Qatar’s cultural history alive.
When you visit Qatar today, you
may not see too many dhow boats
trolling the sea for pearls, but you
will experience a rich, vibrant
culture—one that thrived for many
years thanks to the hard work of
pearl divers.