Managing imports and the BMSB threat

KVH has put forward a submission to the Ministry for Primary Industries (MPI) on proposed amendments to the import standard for ‘vehicles, machinery and equipment’.

Although there are multiple potential ways BMSB could enter New Zealand, interception data demonstrates that the ‘vehicles, machinery and equipment’ pathway is high-risk. This is especially the case from countries where BMSB is found in large numbers, undergoing population growth, or expansion across regions – for example in the USA, Italy, and several other countries across Europe.

MPI have done a good job by introducing new measures on this pathway to provide greater biosecurity protection for New Zealand and KVH fully supports this. Our submission provided additional feedback to strengthen proposed measures and reduce the risk of BMSB establishing.

The main points our submission to MPI specifically covered were:

- the need to carefully manage, and be able to regularly amend, the countries to which BMSB treatments apply;

- the importance of clear and practical regulations around the application of heat/fumigation treatments, and storage and transport of consignments before export to New Zealand,

- treatment verification and follow-up in the event of failure.

Growers will be kept up-to-date with further KVH involvement in the consultation process.