Stink bug treatment facilities checked - Working together to secure New Zealand's borders from biosecurity threats - Fisheries NZ
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Working together to secure New Zealand’s borders from biosecurity threats Issue 29 | October 2019
Stink bug treatment facilities checked
Biosecurity New Zealand staff have just returned from checking Overall, the officers were impressed with what they
out treatment providers in Europe. saw, especially regarding the treatment of breakbulk
Under new import rules, vehicles and machinery from many (uncontainerised) vehicles.
European countries must undergo treatment before arrival in They noted there has been considerable investment to ensure
New Zealand during the stink bug season. For Italy, the off-shore facilities meet our requirements, including setting up systems
treatment requirement extends to all imported sea containers. for monitoring heat levels during treatment and for tracking
Needless to say, it’s very important we have confidence in the vehicle storage and treatment certificates.
facilities that do the treatment. The facilities are largely for exports to New Zealand and
This is the first time we have sent quarantine officers overseas Australia. So the investment shows we are a very important
under the treatment programme jointly run with Australian market for this industry.
biosecurity officials over the last three years. The programme Sea container treatments also faced scrutiny. Due to space
will see increased auditing this season, providing the restrictions and infrastructure issues in some countries,
opportunity for officers to work overseas alongside Biosecurity containers are usually treated away from the wharf with either
Heat treatment at Belgium facility.
NZ treatment specialists. heat or sulfuryl fluoride (not currently registered for use in
During the three-week visit, the two officers were able to New Zealand). The officers noted there was a need to ensure We want to have a high level of assurance about off-shore
inspect nine facilities in six countries – Italy, Spain, correct heat levels are maintained throughout the treatment, treatment, so there are likely to be more visits by officers in the
Belgium, France, Germany and the Netherlands. particularly during the colder months of winter. future.
Pork alert
New airport signage is in place at Auckland and Christchurch to Vietnam and the Philippines.
alert travellers that personal consignments of fresh and cured pork Under our latest rules, personal consignments of
product cannot pass the border. fresh and cured pork products from any countries
The signage is part of a public awareness campaign intended to protect are forbidden.
the New Zealand pork industry from African swine flu (ASF). For commercial importers, fresh or frozen pork can only be imported
The highly infectious and contagious disease is spreading throughout from ASF-free countries, zones or regions. All other pork products
pig populations worldwide. It has been reported in some 50 countries, imported to New Zealand must undergo a heat treatment process, such
including China, Belgium, Slovakia, Cambodia, North Korea, South Korea, as canning, which destroys the ASF virus.
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Issue 29 | October 2019 | 2
Airport stink bug New detector dog school
scrutiny increased entrants
We’re upping our scrutiny of outdoor gear used in urban areas Our trainers are working to turn an all sorts collection of
as part of this season’s anti-stink bug measures at international canines into top-performing detector dogs.
airports.
They are training nine new dogs from a range of sources,
Our focus has traditionally been on items from farms and the including a beagle that was donated from a New Plymouth
wilderness. We decided to widen this focus after interceptions family, a labrador-springer from the Aviation Security Service
last season in backyard tents, kayaks and other personal and a harrier from the NZ Hunts’ Association.
belongings that hadn’t been outside urban areas.
The dogs are needed to fill gaps created by recent and pending
Our attention will be on gear arriving from countries with retirements. We also have two new handlers to pair with dogs.
established stink bug populations. For example, we regard
As a stop-gap measure, we’ve had to go out to the community
backyard tents arriving from Chile as high risk.
to find these dogs. New beagles from our breeding programme
Arriving passengers can expect to be questioned at length should meet demand in the future.
about storage and use of these goods. Officers will undertake
Our recent M and N litters (16 puppies) are currently with
inspection as required.
foster families to get used to being around people. They are
Biosecurity NZ regards brown marmorated stink bug as its just going through their six-month assessments.
highest priority plant pest. If it established in New Zealand,
We expect our L and K litters (seven dogs) from 2018 to be
it could knock $3.6 billion from the economy over 20 years,
back from their families to start formal training in November.
according to a recent forecast by the New Zealand Institute of
Economic Research. The current training should be completed in December.
Speaking of detector dogs, Georgie and handler Alan Willox
Biosecurity business pledge recently featured in an RNZ feature story about stink bug.
Here they are at the Auckland port with the journalist.
We’re very keen for New Zealand businesses to help our border staff protect Biosecurity NZ has three dedicated stink bug dogs.
New Zealand.
A new initiative under the Ko Tātou This is Us programme allows businesses to
sign up to the Biosecurity Business Pledge.
Those who make the pledge commit to integrating biosecurity into their business
activities.
This could involve incorporating biosecurity into procurement policies that guide
the selection of goods, travel, logistics, and service providers.
It could also involve spreading the word about biosecurity to customers, staff,
suppliers and stakeholders.
The scheme starts on 5 November. More than 25 businesses are already on board.
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Issue 29 | October 2019 | 3
Northern arrival Remote clearance tool end of October. It will run in parallel with our existing clearance
system for a few months, taking over completely in February if
I’d like to welcome Mike
Inglis into the biosecurity
nears finish line all goes to plan.
Our border mobility project has reached the home straight. The tool will mean fewer clearance delays, as only
fold.
consignments with biosecurity risk will be put on hold to
Mike is the new Regional We have been working to provide officers with the ability to clear
undergo further inspection. It also promises benefits such as
Commissioner North, a role goods in the field on their phones since December 2017.
speedier issuing of clearance certificates, clearer instructions
I have been acting in since The only thing left to complete is a function to allow the phone for officers doing checks, and better reporting and forecasting.
the decision earlier this year app to direct consignments for treatment.
to divide Biosecurity NZ’s R&I started life as part of the Joint Border Management System
The intention of the project is to speed up cargo clearances. with NZ Customs. It was split off in 2016 to become a separate
border operations into two
The app means officers do not need to provide a release form tool to assess all cargo entering New Zealand for biosecurity
regions.
to the importer or agent, go back to the office and manually and food risk.
Mike has a wealth of
enter inspection and other details, and then send out clearance
experience working in operational environments, most
documents. Essentially, it means they complete these tasks in
recently with Serco New Zealand as first Director of
real time without having to repeat any data entry.
Kohuora Auckland South Corrections Facility, a public/
private partnership between SecureFuture and the As a result, importers can get their goods authorised earlier,
Department of Corrections. and charging information is available immediately.
Prior to this, he worked for nearly 20 years in the We expect to have the treatment function completed in early
Scottish Prison Service. 2020.
Under our new structure, Mike will lead our frontline
teams in Auckland, Western Bay of Plenty, Northland
and Tauranga. This includes taking the lead for all
First steps for R&I tool
northern regional operations in the event of an Biosecurity NZ’s new risk and intelligence (R&I) tool has made
emergency. its first steps to establish an automatic system for assessing
cargo.
I will continue in my recently appointed role as Regional
Commissioner Central and South, which has frontline The aim is to give our evaluators more time to focus on
responsibility for the rest of New Zealand, as well as assessing risk rather than getting bogged down with manual
oversight of some national programmes. and repetitive tasks.
Over the next few weeks, I will work closely with Mike The new system has just been loaded with targeting profiles
to finalise how we will work together to ensure national (for example, stink bug) that will help officers scan cargo
consistency across all our border operations. lodgements for particular risk goods. In the past, we have
Mike will bring a fresh perspective to many of the relied on profiles shared with NZ Customs. We now have more
challenges we face at the border. I really look forward flexibility to develop profiles that suit our needs. We can also
to working with him. use the tool to automatically select consignments for inspection
based on the profile and how many we want to see.
We expect the first part of the R&I tool will be in place at the
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Issue 29 | October 2019 | 4
Cruise ships confirmed as low-risk
The 2019/20 cruise ship season kicked off on 1 October and Under the scheme, vessel operators have to use approved The survey showed 99.6% of passengers (from a sample of
we’re keen to see similar, if not better, biosecurity results as stores, have pest monitoring processes in place and be very 4334) were clear of risk goods. Our target was 98.5% – the
last season. proactive in educating passengers about New Zealand’s same as we have for air passengers.
We recently pulled together an assessment of the previous biosecurity rules. Passengers arriving on accredited vessels had a compliance
season (1 October 2018 to 30 April 2019). This, coupled One of the great things about this scheme is any food seized rate of 99.8% – indicating the biosecurity education
with the results from our new cruise ship compliance survey, comes from sources that have already been verified as provided by the cruise lines under the accreditation scheme
paints a positive biosecurity picture of the pathway. free of biosecurity risk. As a result, we have been able to is doing a good job.
Officers seized 211 risk goods during the season – down reduce some of the checks we traditionally undertake on the The result reinforces our view that cruise ships are a
53% from the previous season. At the same time, cruise ship gangway. relatively low-risk pathway compared with other ways risk
passengers rose 11% to 254,755, and the number of port Moving on to the passenger compliance results: We ran a goods can arrive in New Zealand.
visits climbed 25% to 705. performance verification survey for cruise ships during the
This drop in seizures is linked to our cruise line accreditation 2018/19 season. The survey involved checking disembarking
scheme, which has now been operating for three seasons passengers for risk goods. It was the first time we have done
and has been adopted by the major operators. this for cruise ships.
211 risk goods seized from cruise passengers
in 2018/19 season...
“In-cruise” video
We’ve modified our new inflight biosecurity video
including fruit fly host to cater for cruise ships. So expect to see it if you’re
materials (34%), honey planning a cruise voyage this summer.
(32%), prepared food such by quarantine officers 51% The cruise video includes versions subtitled in
as sandwiches (9%), plant German, Chinese and Japanese. The video is part
detector dogs 41% of a suite of biosecurity education materials we will
products such as cut flowers
and amnesty bins 5% distribute to cruise lines this summer.
(6%) and boiled eggs (5%)...
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Issue 29 | October 2019 | 5
Airport of the future
Avid readers of The Border Space will appreciate there is a lot going Similar algorithms have been successfully developed for
on to improve our biosecurity approach at Auckland Airport. This is a detecting dangerous goods and airline security threats. We’re
summary of where we are going and how we plan to get there. confident of repeating this success in the biosecurity space.
The testing started in late 2018 using a Rapiscan RTT110 unit
Our destination – the latest in baggage scanning technology. The computerised
tomography (CT) provides three-dimensional and high
We are working to strengthen biosecurity through a series of
resolution images of baggage contents. The Aussies are doing
technology, process and facility enhancements at Auckland
their own testing on a similar model.
Airport and ultimately, all international airports in New Zealand.
The end result will see screening of all arriving baggage, more
information for our risk assessors and automation of risk
decisions where possible.
But it is not just about biosecurity. We want to improve the
customer experience by redesigning our processes and using
advanced technology to reduce wait times for passengers
who follow the rules. We believe New Zealand’s airports
should support our nation’s reputation as a world-class travel
destination.
We plan to achieve these goals by 2023, working collaboratively
with airports, airlines and other border agencies.
How we get there
Working with the Aussies
We’re working with our Australian counterparts to explore
emerging technologies that have potential to improve biosecurity. Hand baggage changes
This includes a partnership to develop and share software to We are investing in two Rapiscan 920CT machines for screening
allow new baggage scanning technology to automatically detect hand baggage. Similar to the larger RTT110 unit under trial,
items that pose biosecurity risk. these machines will be able to automatically detect risk goods
using our new software.
We are currently developing an algorithm that will detect fruit and
vegetables. The Australian Department of Agriculture has started The CT technology will make it easier for officers to identify risk
developing detection software for seeds and meat. The plan is to items in hand baggage. It will also allow faster inspection, as
have a working algorithm by 2023 for a range of risk goods. there will be less need to manually search bags.
continued on next page...
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Airport of the future Issue 29 | October 2019 | 6
...continued from previous page
A dedicated area at Auckland Airport will The new process will make the current x-ray Tracking passengers and baggage
allow officers to check hand baggage before screening area redundant. This space will We will track risky baggage with Radio Frequency
passengers pick up their checked bags from become a state-of-the-art baggage search facility. Identification (RFID) technology and digital checkpoints.
the airport carousel.
We are currently testing RFID baggage tags. The next step is
More digital information
to match the tag with images from our CT scanner, allowing
“Back-of-house” screening Officers will be able to make faster and more
officers to receive an alert when a bag passes an RFID
X-ray screening of checked baggage from targeted searches using an application that
reader.
the arrivals area will shift to what we call captures all available risk information. This
information will include images from our CT RFID tags and digital checkpoints will also reduce the risk of
“back-of-house”. This will see screening take place immediately
scanners, passenger declaration details (trials of a digital arrival lost baggage and give us better records and reporting.
after luggage has been unloaded from the aircraft, prior to it being
card are currently underway) and travel history for individual
collected by passengers at the baggage carousel.
passengers. Electronic gates
The RTT110 is capable of screening more than 1800 bags per Automatic electronic gates will ultimately allow speedier exit
There will also be more data sharing between border agencies,
hour. Equipped with our new algorithm, the unit will automatically from the airport for low-risk passengers that meet all our
which will add further depth to the digital information pool.
detect risk goods. It will also send images to be checked as rules.
The application will also speed up other processes, including
required by officers in a control room. If the software or officers If our system identifies any risk, the gates will not open, and
allowing officers to issue fines and collect payments, avoiding the
in the control room detect any risk items, the passenger will be the passenger will be sent to undergo further processing.
need for travellers to line up at our infringement desk.
referred for further checks.
continued on next page...
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Airport of the future Issue 29 | October 2019 | 7
...continued from previous page
Food diversion Pre-clearing Pacific Islanders
Digital arrival card Passengers who bring in high volumes of food should expect Biosecurity NZ is a partner in a programme to boost biosecurity
trials continue to be automatically diverted to a separate area. An officer will
then take their items to a search area specifically designed for
capability in Pacific Island countries.
There are plans afoot to extend testing of a new Part of this initiative is the Tongan Food Validation Project,
screening large volumes of food.
digital arrival card to other border agencies. which reduces the need to search high volumes of traditional
This approach allows more thorough inspection. It will also food brought into New Zealand from Tonga. Under this project,
The Customs-led project is looking at replacing the paper
reduce waiting times for other passengers at our search inspection of selected food parcels is now being done in
arrival card for international passengers with a digital
benches. Tonga before passengers leave. Officers at Auckland Airport
version downloaded from a phone app.
Trials underway at Auckland Airport will see if a digital now inspect a sample of these items to ensure they meet our
arrival card provides a better experience for passengers, requirements.
and a more efficient process for border agencies. The project has scope for other Pacific nations, potentially
The current trials involve Customs staff only, but other reducing this sort of work for our officers and allowing greater
agencies are likely to come in shortly. focus on higher-risk travellers.
Trial participants download an app on their phone.
Then they enter their arrival information before their Detector dog teams still important
international flight lands at Auckland Airport, providing We are exploring opportunities provided by advances in scent-
the same information as required for the paper version. detection technologies.
The app generates a code, which must be scanned at the
However, I can assure you that Biosecurity NZ will continue to
“eGates” (managed by Customs). This allows our officers
employ detector dog teams. They have a vital role in verifying
to view digital arrival cards for individual passengers from
screens at our risk assessment area. our new passenger clearance approach. They are also a proven
tool for promoting biosecurity and for deterring would-be
We are great fans of the initiative, which has potential to
smugglers.
provide officers with advance information about arriving
passengers before they face up to our risk assessors.
It meshes nicely with our plans to use digital technology
About 6.7 million Our changes will reduce Processing speed for Passenger compliance
to improve both biosecurity and the arrival experience for
passengers came to the average time for checked baggage will at Auckland Airport
travellers.
New Zealand this year travellers to go through increase to 1800 bags will continue to meet
(March 2019). This number Auckland Airport’s per hour, nearly double or surpass our target of
is expected to reach border processes from the existing capacity. 98.5% (it is currently
7.1 million by August 2023. 39 to 28 minutes. 98.9%).
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Issue 29 | October 2019 | 8
Indian visitor campaigns
A new public awareness campaign focusing on Indian
travellers kicked off this month.
We’ve been researching new messages that resonate with
this audience for nearly a year, including interviewing
arriving passengers and running workshops with local Indian
communities.
The new campaign encourages travellers to declare anything
they are unsure about. It aims to reassure passengers they
won’t get into trouble for declaring. At the same time, it
stresses our penalties for any failure to declare.
We’re also undertaking similar research to find messages that
reach Chinese travellers, including organising focus groups in
China.
This work will help shape a new campaign, expected to be
launched in the next few weeks.
Biosecurity in own tongue
Two new language translations on our website will help inform more Indian visitors about New Zealand’s biosecurity rules.
Marathi and Gujarati join our Hindi and Punjabi pages for helping Indian language speakers understand what they need to
do at the border.
Marathi is the official and co-official
language in the Maharashtra and Goa states
of Western India. It is the major language
for about 83.1 million people, according to
Wikipedia.
Gujarati is the official language of the
state of Gujarat and is spoken by some
55.5 million Indians.
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Issue 29 | October 2019 | 9
From the frontline
A selection of interesting interceptions and other border activity...
Chicken wing scare Only some of the biofouling had been cleaned off prior to the Vietnamese visitor refused entry
The image looked very much like a deep-fried chicken wing weather turning, which prompted a request from the vessel to Another traveller has had their visit cut short for smuggling
when the package went through an x-ray machine at the return to Auckland. The request was denied, despite pleas for biosecurity risk goods.
International Mail Centre in August. us to reconsider.
In August, a Vietnamese passenger was refused entry at
The sachet of cleaning wipes also suggested something very We initially suspected there was a biofouling problem when the Auckland Airport after officers detected concealed items in his
edible. vessel was unable to provide any documented evidence that it baggage.
met our requirements. Our evaluators also had photos showing
It was a false alarm. The wing was made from plastic. It arrived A container labelled as dried bamboo revealed a bag of red
contamination in the vessel’s sea chest grating.
with a cell phone cover. The wipes were for cleaning the phone. beans once a layer of bamboo was peeled away.
Our suspicions were confirmed on arrival when a dive team
The items met all our biosecurity requirements, so were quickly Officers also detected seeds in the traveller’s jacket and another
found extreme fouling and many high-risk organisms.
released. container labelled as black beans revealed soy beans.
The vessel was later allowed to re-enter New Zealand after
We regularly refer passengers who deliberately break our rules
submitting proof showing it was clean.
to immigration officials, who have the power to deny entry into
New Zealand.
This option means we don’t have to take what can be lengthy
and costly prosecution action.
Frog find
Officers intercepted 22 frogs from two dirty sea containers at a
Wellington transitional facility in July.
An “accredited person” at the facility deserves praise for raising
the alert and calling in our officers.
Learning the hard way The amphibians included Yule Island tree frogs, a green tree
Dirty vessels are continuing to learn the hard way about frog and a cane toad. They were mostly dead, but not all.
biofouling.
The containers arrived from Papua New Guinea, which has at
In September, Auckland officers directed a severely least 197 frog species.
fouled container ship (I will refrain from naming it) to leave
My staff inform me that frogs and toads around the world are
New Zealand within 24 hours after arrival from Sydney.
dying off from a fungal disease (Chytridiomycosis) that has
It was forced to depart with unloaded containers. spread to 60 countries so far.
The vessel elected to carry out cleaning at sea outside As New Zealand has some of the most rare and unique frogs in
New Zealand’s territorial waters. the world, we want to keep diseases like this out. This container had beans hidden under the bamboo.
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Issue 29 | October 2019 | 10
From the frontline continued
Bonsai surprise
A Japanese passenger surprised one of our risk assessors by
declaring “bonsai” at Auckland Airport.
The risk assessor was even more surprised to see the passenger
had brought a whole bonsai tree into New Zealand. The item
turned out to be a commercially packaged bonsai-growing kit
that contained pine seeds.
It was seized.
Saudi seeds stopped
This dried branch came all the way from the deserts of Saudi The officer made it clear the pods could not be cleared
Arabia. without formalin treatment. She also explained that any part
or ingredient from musk deer was prohibited under rules to
Arriving at Auckland Airport in August, the passenger declared
protect endangered species.
he wanted to burn it as prayer incense.
The passenger was not aware whether the items were real or
A lab examination confirmed it contained seeds. So, needless to
not. He intended to use them as decoration, but was happy to
say, it ended up in a quarantine bin.
surrender them.
Seed pencil seized Tiger tooth barred
The number of quirky items we find that pose biosecurity risk to
A tiger tooth won’t be protecting the air traveller who brought
New Zealand never ceases to amaze.
it into Auckland.
A pencil declared as containing unidentified seeds for sowing is
Arriving in October, the passenger declared the item, saying
yet another example.
it had been a present from his father-in-law in Cambodia as
It was seized in September from an air passenger arriving in a talisman for personal
Auckland from Australia. The idea is throw the pencil away once protection.
used. It then decomposes and acts as fertiliser for seeds that
Unfortunately, the
eventually spill out from a special capsule.
passenger didn’t have
Quite ingenious really, except for the biosecurity danger. Musk “pods” surrendered any “CITES” documents
An Auckland officer found it hard to remain calm and to allow import of an
professional when an air passenger presented two mummified endangered species. The
deer testicles at the search bench. tooth was seized.
Arriving from Pakistan in September, the passenger declared
“musk” on his arrival card. That turned out to be a glass jar of
musk powder and two dried and hairy musk pods (testicles).
BACK HOME NEXTIssue 29 | October 2019 | 11
Border activity for August/September
AUG-19 AUG-18 SEP-19 SEP-18
Passenger
Total Arrivals 547,102 543,007 552,096 548,914
NZ/Australia 363,141 357,535 368,550 358,673
Rest of World 183,961 185,472 183,546 189,938
Risk Items Seized 7,301 8,119 8,927 8,507
Risk Items Treated or Destroyed 8,249 7,990 8,808 8,408
Infringement Notices 858 804 916 923
Mail
Mail Items Screened 3,245,448 2,116,781 2,732,310 2,016,702
Mail Items Requiring Further
3,554 3,041 2,759 2,874
Inspection
Risk Mail Items Treated/Destroyed 1,622 1,112 1,133 1,096
Sea Containers
Sea Container Arrivals 65,917 62,067 73,494 57,965
Sea Containers Inspected 2,773 1,958 2,361 1,626
Cargo
Cargo Lines of Interest to MPI 18,919 19,113 19,392 17,595
Cargo Lines Inspected 7,711 7,792 7,449 7,190
Cargo Lines Treated, Reshipped
2,006 2,438 1,933 2,271
or Destroyed
Steve Gilbert
Director Border Clearance
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