The decline of the natural pearling industry can be attributed to several factors—the introduction of cultured farming and the prevalence of plastic buttons in the 1950s. Moreover, the declining supply of natural pearls led to the imposition of bans and policies limiting its harvest to protect the species. Broome and the Dampier Peninsula in Northwestern Australia shares a common history with Southern Philippines—Sulu and Tawi-Tawi—when it comes to pearling industry.

These two areas, though separated by the seas, used to be a ground for Filipino divers, Indigenous and non-Indigenous alike, who braved the depths of the water with their natural skills and limited equipment.