Christchurch Spiced Mussels - health benefits unleashed?

There have been lots of people interested in how my dad Robin is going in his battle with cancer. He was diagnosed with the rarest and most aggressive form of lung cancer early in April. He was a life long smoker. He had a 7.5cm tumour in the lower part of one lung. He was told his outlook was not good. His ability to take any form of treatment has been hampered by the fact that since dad was about 12 he has only had one kidney and in the last few years it has been a bit shakey. Dad was told that he would be given chemo in very light doses and some radiation treatment.

Anyway one of dad old mates, when he heard of dads plight,  offered to give him some pills his company  developed - a combination of a highly concentrated form of mussel oil and curcumin and piperine.

He said he had given them free to some of his close friends who had been diagnosed with cancer- and he  told me  "they are doing ok."

Clinical trials of curcumin are underway at Leicester university to look  at ways to increase  its efficacy. Piperine is considered to be one substance that allows the curcumin to have a better effect.
I told dad that there were no promises but he said that he was happy to give it ago.

Dads  tumor has shrunk to nothing - the doctors have upped his treatments as he has responded so startlingly. He takes 23 pills a day. and has taken them since mid April.
He has been told that he has gone from being in the 90% of people who will die in a reasonably short time with this cancer to the 10% who will probably live for some time.
Anyway I think dads mate is a very smart man - self made , a pioneer in the seafood industry and he has a degree in physics.

So people have asked me just what dad has been taking . The pills are  manufactured and marketed by Bio MER here in Christchurch.

 

Press on the link to find out about them.

I think that my good mate  may well be onto something. Time will tell. But I can say that dads recovery has surprised his doctors - astonished some in fact.

Dad is convinced the pills are a key factor in his recovery and I think he is right.

WHY?

We run a post saying that current Te Ohu Kai Moana chair Ngahiwi Tomoana was about to be rolled and on Friday it was made official. Blogger - the platform that runs our blog got tangled up in some Google maintenance issues and was broken for much of Friday and Saturday so hence we could not update.

The TOKM trustee company is essentially the legal repository for all Maori fish assets.

Te Kawai Taumata, the Electoral College whose role is to appoint directors to Te Ohu Kai Moana Trustee Limited, has appointed three new members and re-appointed one existing member to the board.

Te Ohu Kai Moana Trustee Limited is the corporate trustee for Te Ohu Kai Moana, the Maori Fisheries Settlement Trust and the Takutai Trust - the Maori Commercial Aquaculture Settlement Trust. Directors are appointed to four year terms.

The Chair of Te Kawai Taumata, Naida Glavish, a former Commissioner on the Treaty of Waitangi Fisheries Commission, said the decision on who to appoint to the board was difficult because there were a number of excellent candidates who offered a mix of sound business and commercial skills and commitment to tikanga Maori.

The new directors are:

Mr Matiu Rei, the Executive Director of Te Runanga o Toa Rangatira;

Ms Hinerangi Raumati, currently an alternate director of Te Ohu Kai Moana Trustee Limited, a trustee for the Public Trust and recently appointed the Chief Financial Officer for Te Wananga o Aotearoa; and

Mr Jamie Tuuta, Ngati Mutunga, a self-employed business consultant.

The directors replace the late Sir Archie Te Atawhai Taiaroa, Hon Koro Wetere, who is retiring, and Mr Ngahiwi Tomoana, the current chairman.

Current director, Mr Rikirangi Gage, the chief executive of Te Whanau a Apanui, was reappointed for a second four-year term.

Ms Glavish thanked Mr Wetere and Mr Tomoana for their service and commitment to the Maori seafood industry. "Maori own or influence almost half of New Zealand's commercial fishing industry, have sole interest in our country's customary fisheries and are active recreational fishers. They are also increasingly involved in aquaculture. Through Koro and Ngahiwi's constructive, collaborative leadership over the years, Maori involvement in the fishing industry has been strengthened considerably."

The sole function of Te Kawai Taumata is to appoint and remove the directors of Te Ohu Kai Moana Trustee Limited. It is made up of 11 members appointed by 10 regional groupings of iwi and one member on behalf of Representative Maori Organisations.

Te Kawai Taumata Members are: Naida Glavish (Chairman) representing Taitokerau; Na Raihania (Deputy Chairman) Takitimu; Graeme Morrell, Ngapuhi; Chris McKenzie, Tainui; Willie Emery, Te Arawa Waka; Tamati Cairns, Mataatua; Api Mahuika, Porourangi; Sam Tamarapa, Hauauru; Ngarongo Iwikatea Nicholson, Te Moana o Raukawa; Maui Solomon, Waipounamu/Rekohu; Sharyn Watene, Representative Maori.

There is huge discontent about the way Maori Fisheries assets are being handled. We have received a number of emails on the issue that indicate that Aotearoa Fisheries Ltd, the company that holds all the fisheries companies and Sealords may see some changes on their boards.

Maori are one of the big three in fishing now along side Talleys and Sanfords. The industry is worth about $1.4 billion a year. In any other comparable industry of this size there would be journalists all over this story as it has ramifications for all Maori and indeed all New Zealanders.

HOOKED ON BULLSHIT

Sometimes it is important to comment on some of the wacky and emotive crap the Green party puts into the public arena.

We love Hooker Sealions. They are very cool. We also love the Seafood industry and sad as it maybe some sealions will die as we harvest seafood. We need a regime that ensures minimal deaths but ensures the seafood harvest is sustained.

Up until now the regulations have been based on spurious science and emotion. That is changing and its pissing off the Greens.

So we indulge in not fishing - but fisking..

Government leaves sea lions to fend for themselves

Press Release by Green Party at 3:42 pm, 11 Aug 2009

Today's Government decision to abandon the sea lion Population Management Plan (PMP) leaves the species high and dry, and moves them a step closer to extinction.

There is no evidence that the population is heading toward extinction under the current management regime. The PMP would have set a regime (called MALFiRM) that may not have been substantially different from the current Fishing Related Mortality Limit (FRML); MFish would still have implemented the MALFiRM, as it does the FRML.

"It is bitterly disappointing that the Government has ditched one of the best tools we have in the law to protect a threatened marine mammal like the New Zealand sea lion," said Green Party Co-leader Metiria Turei.

The sea lion PMP has limitations about what about what it can achieve; it still sets an annual limit for MFish to implement. Other statutory tools like marine mammal sanctuaries remain available in the absence of a PMP.

The Department of Conservation today announced that it has produced a 'species management plan' (a generic set of guidelines) and dropped the 'Population Management Plan' (a legal plan under the Marine Mammals Protection Act) that the public submitted on.

What a bloody good idea.

"Without a population management plan, the Government decision on how many sea lions can be 'sustainably' killed this coming season will be made under the Fisheries Act rather than our marine protection laws," said Mrs Turei.

So what? The Ministry still administers it.

"This decision shows how important it is to fix our marine protection laws, and how irresponsible it was for the National Party to vote against my recent bill to do just that."

What crap The current approach has the support of most stakeholders.

The Green Party's Marine Animal Protection Law Reform Bill was voted down by the National Party late last month sparking an outcry from environment groups.

Indeed. It was a crap piece of legislation - all rhetoric - no common sense.

"The continued decline of our sea lion shows that the marine sanctuaries and reserves around its breeding grounds are insufficient," said Mrs Turei. "We need a strong plan that will actually protect them."

What utter bullshit. Our muttonbird island is a classic example numbers have remained steady for over 20 years. And the cause of the supposed decline is unknown but is very unlikely to be caused by the direct effect of fishing. Marine reserves cannot be extended beyond the territorial sea of the Auckland Islands, and the option of extending the marine mammal sanctuary remains available under the current legislation even without a PMP. The PMP would have set a regime (MALFiRM) that would have been implemented by MAF if it considers it’s appropriate after looking at all relevant factors.

"Sea lion mums killed at sea result in pups onshore being left to starve when mum doesn't return."

Yup, sometimes, its ugly to watch but thats life and death. and remember deaths at sea can occur as a result of natural events, not just fishing. Whales are a main predator.

72 sea lions were presumed killed by the fishery at the close of the 2008/9 fishing season.

True they are presumed killed, but almost certainly a vast overestimation of actual deaths. During the heaviest part of the squid fishing season over 50% of boats carried official observers. Only four sea lion deaths were reported (two by boats carrying observers and two by boats that weren’t carrying observers). So the extrapolation of figures is the absolute worst case scenario laced with a good dollop of emotive crapola.

The New Zealand sea lion was declared a threatened species under the Marine Mammals Protection Act in 1997. It is the rarest sea lion in the world.

Give us a break. It was always a small discrete population. Its at the top of the food chain and there is never huge populations of anything at the top of the food chain - marine biology 101.

Natural vulnerability to disease is amplified by sea lions killed in interactions with fishing vessels. It is estimate that 700 adults have been killed by Sub-Antarctic squid trawlers in the past decade.

The 700 estimate may be about right assuming 70 per year, but that of course is 70 assumed deaths under the FRML – remember that with significant observation of the fishery this year only four sea lion deaths were actually confirmed, two on observed boats and two reported by unobserved boats.

In the absence of a Population Management Plan, fishing-related deaths of sea lions will be managed by the Ministry of Fisheries, leaving the Department of Conservation to manage other aspects under a weak non-statutory plan.

True, but a classic straw man statement: nothing has changed; whatever the regime it would have been managed by the Ministry of Fisheries. so we reckon all in all a good move by the government. Rational and reasonable. - a far cry from the emotive driven legislation we have seen in the past decade.

OBSERVER PROGRAMME ENDANGERED?

We blogged on the silliness of the three year observer programme for Hectors dolphins that has landed two southern fishing boats in hot water.
Its a safety issue and the two skippers in question have made a stand. No dolphins were caught the first season. The word is that if there are no dolphins caught this year then the third year of the programme could be scrapped.

What a bloody good idea that would be.

SEALORDS - YIP - DUMB AND DUMBER.

The battery on our blackberry is flat today and it relates to the Sealords story. The general consensus in the New Zealand Seafood Industry is that Sealords have made a dumb decision to sell down the whanaunui pounamu - the aquaculture rights to marine farms in Marlborough to Sanfords. One very well placed industry source put it this way.

The golden rules are: -

1) If Eric Barratt or Peter Talley want something - you shouldn't be selling.

2) If Eric buys it - you sold too cheap.

Spot on.

KORU CLUB FOOD IS CRAP

We are sitting in the Koru lounge in Auckland and we have to say that the food is absolute crap. Mass produced cheese cake, a sweet and sour thing and rice - that can only be described as a sweet and sour thing. The salads are dead, limp - well past rigor mortis, the bread rolls are stale and they have beetroot in some mayonnaise! What is that about. It is 6pm - no cheese and crackers. Now we paid $495 for our membership this year. But its not likely we will pay that again next year - the food has been getting progressively worse.. Will need to drink wine , lots of it to make up for the crap food.

To top matters off we are are constantly reminded of the recession - the lounge is about half full at peak hour. It is so slow that the woman who mans the coffee kiosk saw an empty coffee cup by me and asked if I would like another.I told her it wasnt mine, then she asked me if I would like a nice drink anyway. Service with a lovely smile, shame about the tucker.

And the is no decent eye candy - all the good looking bronzed gods who used to frequent the lounge have obviously gone to the wall.

However Wellington will get a big cash injection this week - the NZ Seafood conference is being held in the capital -
It is being opened by the PM , its been a few years since that happened. the industry is doing okay despite the rough seas of the international money markets. We are also please to see they are still holding the seafood debates. Take BB's word for it, they are famous for being unpc and very funny!