High-risk pests kept away

We’re now in the high-risk season for fruit flies and the Brown Marmorated Stink Bug (BMSB) – some of the kiwifruit industry’s most unwanted pests.

The latest updates for each are now available on the KVH website, showing that since the start of the high-risk season in September:

• there have been five live BMSB finds
• all five of the BMSB were found in one ‘event’ at the border, in packaging of air-freighted goods that had come to Auckland from Italy, via Germany. A report was immediately made to Biosecurity New Zealand and the site was inspected by quarantine officers and dedicated BMSB detector dogs
• there have been no finds of Queensland Fruit Fly (QFF) or any other fruit fly species
• as part of New Zealand’s comprehensive fruit fly surveillance programme there have already been almost 13,000 trap inspections.

The BMSB and fruit fly risk updates produced by KVH each month include data about any detections, explain the range of activities and actions underway by industry and Biosecurity New Zealand to manage the risk these threats pose, and our preparedness in case they get here.