Tighter import rules

As mentioned in the last Bulletin, KVH continues to advocate strongly on behalf of the industry for strict biosecurity border controls which will make it harder for the Brown Marmorated Stink Bug (BMSB) to make its way here.

There have been additional measures for the high-risk Vehicles, Machinery and Equipment Pathways introduced. The measures now target risk goods from 16 countries (Austria, Bulgaria, France, Georgia, Germany, Greece, Hungry, Italy, Liechtenstein, Romania, Russia, Serbia, Spain, Slovenia, Switzerland and the USA). New measures have also been introduced for vehicles from Japan after the high number of interceptions on this pathway last season.

We are pleased that the Ministry for Primary Industries (MPI) has also announced mandatory treatments applied to all containers from Italy (introduced last year) will again be applied this high-risk season as well as during the 2019/2020 season. MPI have increased the duration of this treatment period so that it extends from September through until the end of April.

KVH applaud MPI’s efforts to introduce these measures and push the management of risk offshore resulting in much greater protection to our industry.

Research learnings

Professor Max Suckling from Plant and Food Research and the University of Auckland has published another video on his research in Italy, using novel non-chemical techniques to disrupt BMSB mating. This is a more technical video that can be viewed here.

i-Site displays

This summer KVH is stocking the Mount Maunganui and Cruise Terminal i-Sites with biosecurity flyers raising awareness about high-risk pest threats (mainly BMSB) potentially hitchhiking their way across our borders. The i-Sites double as ticketing offices are often the first point of call for visitors and cruise ship passengers wanting to know more about the region and plan their time here.