Fun Fact

Tracking pests from space is now possible and it won big at the Biosecurity Awards last week.

Vessels arriving from international waters can bring with them exotic pests, disease agents and unwanted organisms. Xerra Earth Observation Institute’s Starboard tool is a maritime intelligence project which is able to detect hitchhiker pests.

Starboard can assess the biosecurity risk of every ship or boat entering New Zealand, based on their vessel movements and port visits in the last 12 months. A game-changer for marine biosecurity, the Starboard database contains more than 16 billion ship positions worldwide.

By bringing together scientists, designers, engineers and end-users they are delivering a much-needed solution and improving marine biosecurity for all New Zealand.