News in Brief

Manihiki pearl industry set to recover from setback
Ministry of Marine Resources (MMR) Pearl Biologist Georgia Langdon has forwarded the Times a report on the current state of the Manihiki pearl industry following the recent discovery that shells below a certain depth had died in mysterious circumstances.

The Manihiki peal industry is still moving forward despite the recent shell mortality. Most active farmers are currently busy cutting haruharu or seeding and harvesting. Although the shell mortality is significant, it will have only affected those lines that had been poorly maintained; i.e not adequately buoyed and sitting on the bottom of the lagoon. For those farmers who have maintained their lines at the recommended depth, according to the Lagoon Management Plan, they shouldn’t have experienced any set backs from the mortality. We haven’t quantified the amount of shells lost during this event but it is expected that there will be a time lag effect in seeing the repercussions of such an event. This means that there will most likely be less haruharu available for farmers to seed in the next 6-12 months. Farmers will need to put collectors down now to ensure for future seedings. Or an option will be to buy haruharu off those farmers who still have their catch. Manihiki lagoon still has an enormous live Pinctada margritifera population and in time, these shells will spawn and replenish the shells that have been lost.
A positive impact is that farmers now know to keep their farm lines buoyed; farm what they can afford or handle; to follow the Lagoon Management Plan and to keep their lines clean of fouling. The negative impacts are the costs involved to keep farm lines afloat; labour and costs to work the farm.
We haven’t pin pointed the exact cause but looking at all the data it appears that there was a final blow sometime in January (unusually cold weather) that followed an extended period of stress. We (MMR) are still discussing with other scientists about any other similar occurrences in other atolls in the Pacific.

January to March best months for Yellow Fin catch

Ministry of Marine Resources (MMR) catch data for the 2011 calendar year released by MMR on Wednesday shows that besides recording the data for Tuna species-Albacore, Yellow Fin, Big Eye and Skipjack, a number of other species are included.
There are the Marlins-Blue Marlin, Black Marlin, Striped Marlin. Also Swordfish, Short Billed Spear fish, Sail Fish (Indo-Pacific), Wahoo, Mahi Mahi, Moonfish, Oil Fish, Great Barracuda, Sharks and other fish not specified.
In January, February and March of 2011, the national Yellow Fin Tuna catch easily outweighed the Albacore and Big Eye Tuna catches.
January
Yellow Fin 213.5 metric tonnes (MT)
Albacore 136.3 MT
Big Eye 58.6 MT
February
Yellow Fin 186.5 MT
Big Eye 43.8 MT
Albacore 39.8 MT
March
Yellow Fin 68.4 MT
Albacore 28.9 MT
Big Eye 13.3 MT
(The best month for Skipjack Tuna was July when 13.7 MT was caught).
After the big three in the Tuna class, Wahoo and Blue Marlin were the next biggest catches.
The best month for Wahoo was July when 13.3 MT was caught. The best month for Blue Marlin was May when 12.5 MT was caught.
The MMR data above is provisional and final figures are still being received and compiled.

Earth Hour
Friday the 30th is the fourth time the Cook Islands has joined the rest of the world to celebrate Earth Hour.
The event takes place annually on March the 31st around the globe, but took place in the Cook Islands on Friday the 30th, with a voluntary lunch time switch off for 1 hour, from 12pm to 1pm.
“The test was for everybody! Businesses, Government departments, schools, restaurants, sport groups, hotels, cafes, everyone joined in,” said Deyna Marsh, a coordinator from the Cook Islands Earth Hour committee.
This year the CI Earth Hour team has reached out to government departments, the commercial sector and schools, during a normal working day, at a peak time, to turn off their electrical appliances and lights to celebrate the occasion.
The event was to encourage households and businesses to turn off their non-essential lights for one hour to raise awareness about the need to take action on climate change.
In 2007, WWF-Australia inspired Sydney-siders to show their support for climate change action in the first ever Earth Hour event. That year in Sydney, Australia, 2.2 million individuals and more than 2,000 businesses turned their lights out for one hour to take a stand against climate change.
In 2008, the plan was to take Earth Hour to the rest of Australia. But then the City of Toronto, Canada, signed up and it wasn’t long before 35 countries and almost 400 cities and towns were part of the event. It said something compelling to the world: that the climate challenges facing our planet are so significant that change needs to be global. With the invitation to ‘switch off’ extended to everyone, Earth Hour quickly became an annual global event. It’s scheduled on the last Saturday of every March – closely coinciding with the equinox to ensure most cities are in darkness as it rolled out around the Earth.
In 2011, Earth Hour saw hundreds of millions of people across 135 countries switch off for an hour. But it also marked the start of something new – going beyond the hour to commit to lasting action on climate change.
Earth Hour globally will be recognized on Saturday 31st March (which is Friday in the Cook Islands) from 8:30-9:30pm with over 100 major cities switching off for an hour that night.
Earth Hour is a voluntary activity, through which you can celebrate your 60minutes for the Earth however and whenever you like! -Tiare Ponini

Car crusher to clean up

Machine: Portable, semi-trailer mounted car baler.
Demonstration: Cook Islands General Transport yard at Rao Ariki Rd (next to St Josephs School) Tutakimoa, Thursday 29 March.
Operation: Crushes cars and other objects by hydraulically powered crusher utilizing 400 tonnes of force. A mounted crane places cars and objects into the crusher. Can fit 14-15 tonnes in a container for shipping to NZ.
Supplied by: NZ company Global Metal Solutions under temporary loan negotiated between Recycle Cook Islands and Global metal Solutions NZ.
Operating partnership: General Transport, Recycling Cook Islands, MOIP
Aim: During next five months, clear unwanted cars and other objects from Rarotonga and also waste shipped to Rarotonga from the outer islands. Will add to the beautification plans by Government. Also process cyclone roofing debris and Legacy Metals that is about to be completed under the Aitutaki Recovery Program managed by Ministry of Infrastructure and Planning for Aitutaki Recovery Committee and funded by NZ Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade.

The cause of many of our problems
Many of the problems that we encounter in life as individuals, even in the family regarding parents and children relationship or even the relationship between husbands and wives, even between friends, including the situation in the workplaces, and so on, was as a result of the words that comes out of our mouth. Our spoken words can either help to encourage and comfort others or create an atmosphere of hatred and anger or bitterness in the lives of others. This small organ on our body called the “tongue” or “mouth” can do a lot of damage to our lives and the lives of others if not controlled properly. If the “tongue” or the “mouth” is properly used and controlled it will bring blessings and positive things to our lives and the lives of others.
Let us look at what the Bible has to say about this small organ in our body. James 3v.8-9 (Good News Bible) reads “But no one has ever been able to tame the tongue. It is evil and uncontrollable, full of deadly poison. We use it to give thanks to our Lord and Father and also to curse other people, who are created in the likeness of God. Words of thanksgiving and cursing pour out from the same mouth. My friends, this should not happen!”
Who knows perhaps some of the suicide cases of recent times may have been caused by what was spoken to these individuals. May be some of the broken marriages or broken homes was initially caused by what was spoken negatively by others. James is saying in the above reading that we use our tongue to speak positive things about God and also others, but out of the same mouth we say negative things to run people down or do damage to others. James is saying we should not be doing this.
Gossiping and creating rumors above negative issues has been a main cause of the problems amongst many people. James is saying stop doing this. We should not be doing this at all because of the implications and consequences this will bring to many people. This is one of the main challenges to everyone which is the manner we use our tongue or mouth. In fact the choice is ours. In Matthew 7v.12 (NIV) Jesus said “...do to others what you would have them do to you…” this means that God is the giver of good things for us. If this is the case then why are some people saying bad things about other people to hurt them. That is why James is encouraging all of us to stop doing that. We must use our mouth or our tongue to encourage others and build up those who are down in life. To comfort those who are hurting!
In Galatians 6v.9-10 the Apostle Paul said “And let us not grow weary while doing good, for in due season we shall reap if we do not lose heart. Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all, especially to those who are of the household of faith.”
My you have a God blessed weekend!

Headlines : Times 290 02 March 2009
- Lucky $1,000 winner
- Century old palm trees and the French connection
- Koutu Nui takes part in Raui meeting in Moorea
- WOM Award Dinner for Ake Hosea-Winterflood
- Island of Atiu to host Koutu Nui AGM in June 2009