There is a worldwide black market in the collection and export of abalone meat. In New Zealand, where abalone is called pāua in the Māori language, this can be a particular problem. The right to harvest pāua can be granted legally under Māori customary rights. When such permits are overused, it is difficult to police. The legal daily limit is 10 pāua per diver with a minimum shell length of 125 mm. The limit is strictly enforced by many Ministry of Fisheries officers with the help of the police. Pāua 'poaching' is a major industry in New Zealand with many thousands of abalones being taken illegally, mostly undersized. Convictions have caused removal of diving gear, boats and motor vehicles as well as fines and in rare cases; imprisonment. The Ministry of Fisheries expects in the year 2004/05, nearly 1000 tons of pāua will be poached, with 75% of that being undersized.
Highly polished New Zealand pāua shells are extremely popular as gifts with their striking blue, green and purple iridescence. Transporting unprocessed abalone shells out of New Zealand is illegal.
The largest abalone in South Africa, "Haliotis midae", can be found along about two-thirds of the country’s coastline. Abalone-diving has been a recreational activity for many years, but stocks are currently being threatened by illegal commercial harvesting.
Ormers ("Haliotis tuberculata") are considered a delicacy in the Channel Islands and are looked after with great eagerness by the locals. Unfortunately, this has led to a huge decrease in numbers since the second half of the 19th century, and 'ormering' is now strictly regulated in order to keep stocks. The taking of ormers is now restricted to a number of 'ormering tides', from the January 1 to April 30, which happen on the full or new moon and two days after that. No ormers may be taken from the beach that are under 8 cm in shell length. Gatherers are not allowed to wear wetsuits or even put their heads underwater. Any breach of these laws is illegal and can lead to a large fine. The demand for ormers is so big that it started the world's first underwater arrest, when Mr. Kempthorne-Leigh of Guernsey was arrested by a police officer in full diving gear while illegally diving for ormers.
White Abalone are going extinct because of their delicious tender meat, jewlery, and beautiful shell.
There have been a number of attempts to artificially grow (farm) abalone for the purpose of consumption.
Shellfish
Shellfish is a culinary term for some aquatic invertebrates used as food: molluscs, crustaceans, and echinoderms. It is not a scientific term, and its use may vary from place to place.
Both saltwater and freshwater invertebrates are considered shellfish. Molluscs commonly used as food include the clam, mussel, oyster, winkle, and scallop.
Some crustaceans commonly eaten are the shrimp, prawn, lobster, crayfish, and crab.
Echinoderms are not eaten as commonly as molluscs and crustaceans. In Asia, sea cucumber and sea urchins are eaten.
Edible cephalopods such as squid, octopus, and cuttlefish and terrestrial snails, though all molluscs, are sometimes considered to be shellfish and sometimes not.
The term "finfish" is sometimes used to distinguish ordinary (vertebrate) fish from shellfish.
Jewish and Islamic dietary laws forbid the eating of shellfish (those that live on the land, and in the water).
In Japanese cuisine, chefs often use shellfish and their roe. Sushi and sashimi feature both raw and cooked shellfish.
Alban Berg
Alban Berg (born Vienna, 9 February 1885; died Vienna 24 December 1935) was an Austrian composer. Alban Berg and Anton Webern were both pupils of Arnold Schoenberg. All three composers in their own way changed the style of musical composition in the early 20th century. They grew up at a time when most composers were still writing Romantic music, but Schoenberg and his pupils started to write atonal music (music which is not in any key) and then twelve-tone music in which all 12 notes in an octave are of the same importance. Although Berg wrote a lot of twelve-tone music he still managed to make it sound quite Romantic at times, more so than Schoenberg or Webern. His most important works are his two operas "Wozzeck" and "Lulu" and his "Violin Concerto".
Berg was brought up in the centre of Vienna. His family had plenty of money, but when Berg’s father died in 1900 life became much harder for them. He did not do very well at school. He also had a love affair with a kitchenmaid, with whom he had a daughter.
He was interested in music, played the piano and had started to compose, but he had not done well enough in his school exams to get into the music conservatory. He was not interested in business like his father had been. He got an unpaid job. Then, in 1904, he started to study with Schoenberg. This was the first time he had been given proper music lessons. Two years later, his mother inherited some money, and Berg was then able to give up his unpaid job and concentrate on music.
Schoenberg taught him harmony, counterpoint and music theory, all the things one needs to know to compose well. Berg had lessons from him from 1904 until 1911. His first proper pieces include a Piano Sonata and a String quartet. Here he had already found the modern style which suited him. He wrote harmonies which seemed to float. He often wrote pieces with several movements which are all linked by a common theme. He also liked themes which are heard upside down, or palindromes, where the tune sounds the same forwards as backwards. He met a girl called Helene and they married in 1910.
Berg liked to listen to all kinds of music. In this way he was different to Schoenberg or Webern. Berg was interested in French composers such as Debussy, as well as jazz. He liked the modern theatre and the political works of the playwright Bertolt Brecht and the composer Kurt Weill.
Berg was very grateful to Schoenberg for all that he had learned from him, but he still continued to be quite afraid of him. Schoenberg wrote many letters to him asking him to do things for him (e.g. making piano arrangements of his orchestral pieces) and often criticising him. Only in the 1920s, when Berg had become well-known, did Schoenberg start writing to him more like an equal friend.
Berg wrote "Five Orchestral Pieces". It is one of the first important works he wrote without Schoenberg’s help. The music has some modern chords which must have sounded very shocking to the Viennese audience. On 31 March 1913 Schoenberg conducted a concert in Vienna which included some songs by Berg. People in the audience started to fight and the police had to be called. When Schoenberg wrote to Berg criticising his music, Berg lost all his self-confidence. Slowly he started to get more confidence again. He wrote "Three Orchestral Pieces" op 6. The music sounds quite like Mahler. There are a lot of musical ideas which grow into one another and make a rich sound.
During World War I Berg spent some time in an army training camp. This experience must have been in his mind when he wrote his opera "Wozzeck". This opera became very famous. There were a lot of new ideas in it. It is not about a great hero, but about a simple man who is mistreated by people. The music, too, is very different from opera music up to that time. Although it was so modern it was a great success and made Berg world-famous. It gave him more money which, together with a little teaching, allowed him to spend most of his time composing.
"Wozzeck" has a little twelve tone music in it, but in his next works the twelve tone system is much more important. He wrote "Lyrical Suite" for String Quartet and a "Kammerkonzert" ("Chamber Concerto") in which the form is made up by mathematical rules. He liked to hide things in his music e.g. favourite numbers or letters from people’s names. These are like secret codes and, in later years, musicians have spent a lot of time trying to work out what Berg was trying to do.