Surveillance Vol.26 No.1 1999

Text starts below supervision services, thus ensuring that the people doing the inspections are not only suitably qualified and experienced but also have access to statutory powers when they are required (e.g. for issuing biosecurity clearances).

Animal quarantine activities

As in 1997, the majority of quarantines in 1998 were for cats, dogs, and tropical fish but there were also some bird, horse and alpacas. On average, 15 biosecurity clearances from quarantine were issued each month.

There were two ongoing and important quarantine programmes concerning the importation of scrapie free . Goats from Zimbabwe are due to complete quarantine in September 2000, and sheep from the United Kingdom are due to complete quarantine in 2002. The goats will be released once they have completed their quarantine. The sheep, however, have been genetically modified and will therefore not be released at the end of their quarantine. Instead, they will be subject to permanent containment (see under new organisms legislation, below).

As usual, the Quarantine Section had to deal with several cases in which animals failed to comply with our import health standards. In such cases MAF’s first priority is to manage the biosecurity risks to New Zealand, and then to minimise loss to the owner in the case of legitimate importations. Another priority is to conserve endangered species. Euthanasia is considered only if the animals cannot be shipped out in an acceptable time frame based on the biosecurity risk. Unplanned quarantine is hardly ever an option because of the costs and difficulties involved.

Introduction and containment of new organisms MAF Regulatory Authority Another major issue for the Animal Quarantine Section was the introduction, in July, of the ‘new organism’ provisions of the 1998 Animal Quarantine report: Hazardous Substances and New Organisms Act 1996. The The Animal Quarantine Section of the Ministry of Agriculture and Environmental Risk Management Authority of New Zealand (ERMA Forestry is responsible for the quarantine of animals and animal NZ) became responsible for approving the introduction of ‘new products so as to prevent the introduction of unwanted organisms. organisms’ into New Zealand, setting the containment controls for new organisms given a containment approval and for setting the It develops policies, sets standards for facilities, and is responsible standards for the facilities in which organisms with a containment for the management of goods and animals that are on our shores approval must be kept. This resulted in significant operational but have not yet been given a biosecurity clearance. It was a quiet changes for the Animal Quarantine Section. year in 1998 for quarantine of live animals. Nevertheless, numerous legislative and organisational changes kept the Imported new organisms, which includes genetically modified section busy. organisms, must still conply with the biosecrity requirements in an import health standard but unless they have a release approval from Restructuring of the Quarantine ERMA NZ, they have to stay in containment after they have met the Service import health standard requirements.

A major issue for the Animal Quarantine Section in 1998 was the Standards for the containment of most organisms have been restructuring of MAF Quality Management, whose staff used to developed by the Animal Quarantine Section. Approved standards supervise quarantine and containment, into several different now exist for the containment of micro-organisms, invertebrates, organisations. The MAF Quarantine Service is now providing vertebrate laboratory animals, and the field testing of farm animals.

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MAFText startswill continue below to be the enforcement agency monitoring the biocontrol agent against Buddleja davidii, which is a major pest of containment of new organisms, and it is MAF Quarantine Service exotic forestry. that will be responsible for this. Authors: Elizabeth Stoddart and Kevin Corrin The Animal Quarantine Section considered applications to import Animal Quarantine Section new species of animals into New Zealand prior to the MAF Regulatory Authority Environmental Risk Management Authority of New Zealand taking over the responsibility in July.

Applications to introduce (release) new species into New Zealand:

• Camelus dromedarius (Arabian camel): This application was refused because there was insufficient information about the relative harmful and beneficial effects of introducing camels.

• Gonioctena olivacea (leaf feeding beetle against broom): This application was refused because the beetle can also complete its life- cycle on tree lucerne, and there was insufficient information about the relative harmful and beneficial effects of its introduction.

• Oxyptilus pilosellae (moth against hieracium): In approving the release of this moth, the Chief Veterinary Officer noted that there was a risk of some harm, but that all but one of the submitters believed that the potential benefits outweighed the risk to native plants.

• Aulacidea subterminalis (gall forming wasp against hieracium): In approving the release of this moth, the Chief Veterinary Officer noted that there was minimal risk of it doing unwanted harm to our natural resources, and that it would improve the ability of other plants to compete against hieracium.

• Urophora stylata (gall against scotch thistle, Cirsium vulgare): The Chief Veterinary Officer approved this application since there is little risk of unwanted harm, and any impact on scotch thistle would be advantageous.

Applications to import into containment:

• Phoenicopterus ruber roseus (greater flamingo) and P. ruber ruber (the Caribbean flamingo): approved for importation into containment in a New Zealand registered zoo.

• Mnematidium multidentum (a dung beetle): approved for importation into containment in a New Zealand registered zoo.

• Lycaon pictus (African hunting dog): approved for importation into containment in a New Zealand registered zoo.

• Spreo superbus (superb starling): approved for importation into containment in a New Zealand registered zoo. This is a different genus from the common starling (Sturnus vulgaris) found in New Zealand, and there are no records of hybridisation between them.

• praecox and : approved for importation into containment in order to complete host specificity testing as a biocontrol agents against hieracium.

• Mecyslobus err (a weevil): approved for importation into containment in order to complete host specificity testing as a

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