The exploitation of the Atlantic Pearl Oyster between the early 1500's in the eastern coast of Venezuela

The main purpose of the first Spanish settlements in South America was the exploitation of pearls. The increasing pearl production in Cubagua since the arrival of Columbus in 1498, led to the foundation of the first European city in the continent, Nueva Ciudad de Cadiz, in 1527. Only 13 years later, the city was abandoned and the production of pearls collapsed. As tax records indicate that at least 10.7 metric tons of pearls were exported to Spain from 1512 to 1541, the most widely accepted explanation of Nueva Cadiz demise is the massive overexploitation of oysters. However, tax records indicate when pearls were exported and not when oysters were collected. Using the distribution of tax records as the upper boundary of oyster’s production, the demographics of Nueva Cadiz, and the biological parameters of the Atlantic Pearl oyster, we simulated and tested the effects of oyster fisheries under different environmental scenarios. Despite the high rates of exploitation, the populations of pearl oysters did not collapse. Reduced rates of accretion associated to the low seawater temperatures and increased salinities in the Caribbean during the Little Ice Age, could have played an important role in the demise of the colonial pearl industry.