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Following a review of biosecurity risks associated with Port of Tauranga and Rotorua Airport last year, KVH identified initial concerns with incoming cruise ships and raised these with the Ministry for Primary Industries (MPI).
KVH has been advocating for improvements that further minimise biosecurity risks through the cruise ship pathway. These include:
KVH acknowledges that some key improvements have been made by MPI over the last 12 months to tighten biosecuirty through this pathway.
MPI are now using dogs for all first port of arrivals and many second ports of arrival. Detector dogs have been used on 150 cruise ship visits resulting in the interception of 500 biosecurity risk items, of which 76 percent were fresh produce.
The cruise ship industry has more than doubled in size over the last five years (Cruise New Zealand). These cruise ships enter New Zealand waters from Australia or the Pacific Islands, regions harbouring high-risk pests and diseases including fruit flies, which are the greatest biosecurity threat to New Zealand’s horticultural industries.
KVH will continue to proactively strive for even better border intervention to reduce risk to the kiwifruit industry.
For more information about the cruise ship risk pathway, click here to view the fourth profile document in KVH’s ‘Profile Series: Border Interventions on Import Pathways’.
KVH investigates reports of unusual symptoms to identify and manage any biosecurity risks.
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