Why did some Oceanic artists make blades from tridacna shell?

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dilly bag; Aboriginal Australian art, Northern Territory, Australia — Oceanic art and architecture An Aboriginal Australian decorating a tightly woven dilly bag with white, yellow, and ochre (red) paints, Northern Territory, Australia, 1948.

In parts of Oceania where stone was in short supply, such as in Micronesia and the Solomon Islands, artists utilized tridacna shell to create blades.1

Because Oceanian cultures relied on Neolithic technology, they were highly opportunistic in their use of available natural materials. While stone was the primary material for tools like the adz or ax, the scarcity of stone in certain regions necessitated the use of alternative, durable materials like tridacna shell to maintain their tool-making capabilities.1