Quarantine Hits
With close proximity to neighbouring Asian and Pacific countries, being surrounded by 36,000kms of coastline, and with people, cargo, mail and imported goods arriving every day, quarantine surveillance in Australia is more important than ever before. The more than 3,000 men and women who work for AQIS are on duty 24 hours a day, every day of the year. Here is a sample of the work they do.
Borers love music too
Electric guitar with borer damage
Summer means Big Day Out music festivals around Australia. Gold Coast gigs kept AQIS busy when more than 34 000 kgs of band equipment from 11 acts arrived on a flight from New Zealand to Brisbane.
It took 12 road crew, five semi-trailers and two fork lift drivers to transport the gear for inspection at a local quarantine-approved premises.
Equipment included guitar cases, sound equipment, band wardrobes, stage back-drops and two large inflatable air dancers. The only biosecurity risk item was a box of herbal tea containing orange peel, cinnamon bark and slippery elm bark that the importer elected to have destroyed. All equipment made it to the Gold Coast on time for a huge weekend of music.
In stark contrast to these professional musos, many aspiring performers pick up cheap copies of guitars overseas. These imports may be a path to fame and fortune for the owner but they present a high risk due to exotic pests, such as borers.
The musical aspiration of a budding Brisbane guitarist struck an unpopular chord last year when borers were found in his guitar imported from China.
An infestation like this may not be immediately obvious during the import process. Due to the cryptic nature of some timber pests, damage is often not evident for months or even years afterwards.
Bagging the Brady Bunch
Bush snails in the top row are
the Bradybaena similaris from
Alice Springs, Northern Territory
(NTM P.36330) and the one on
the bottom is the Bradybaena sp.,
(NTM P.43253). Photo courtesy of
Museum and Art Gallery, Northern Territory.
The Brady Bunch came to Australia recently but wasn’t allowed in.
Well, it wasn’t the Brady Bunch family known on television, but it was a live Bradybaena sp. land snail (Mollusca: Pulmonata: family Bradybaenidae) intercepted by AQIS officer Pat Goda in a consignment of plastic erosion matting from China.
As well as the exotic Bradybaena sp., commonly known as the bush snail, there was such a high concentration of dead and live insects inside the eight containers that they were fumigated for longer than usual.
The offending snail was identified by Dr Richard Willan, Senior Curator, Molluscs, Museum and Art Gallery Northern Territory, who advised it could survive in northern Australia and is potentially an agricultural and environmental pest.
Another species of the genus Bradybaena (B. similaris) was introduced into Australia some time ago and is now a widespread agricultural pest.
AQIS officers are accustomed to searching for giant African snails in cargo but are also always on the lookout for the snails’ smaller, but no less damaging, cousins.
Genetics reveal pest's home
AQIS officers are the ‘private eyes’ of the pest underworld—they’re adept at finding, investigating and tracking pests to their origins.
AQIS officers John Braniska and Andrew Czelusta recently collected egg masses on shipping containers at the Melbourne docks and sent them to AQIS’s entomologists for identification.
Not only were the entomologists able to identify the eggs as belonging to the feared Asian gypsy moth (AGM) but Jenny Morrison, of Brisbane’s operational science program, used genetic sequencing to pin down their origin.
Jenny first compared the eggs’ genetic sequence to known AGM sequences in the Genebank library. She then investigated the movement of containers during the AGM’s egg laying period and deduced that the eggs came from Qingdau, in northern China, and Pusan in South Korea.
AQIS’s Adam Broadley says the Asian gypsy moth is capable of environmental devastation.
‘The caterpillars of Asian gypsy moth eat over 500 plant species in their native far east Russia, China, Korea and Japan and we know they will also eat eucalypts,’ said Adam.
‘During the northern hemisphere summer the female moths lay egg masses of up to 1200 eggs on many surfaces, including shipping containers. It is critical that egg masses are removed as soon as they arrive in Australian ports because once the eggs hatch, the young caterpillars can be blown around by wind and larvae can be dispersed easily into the vegetation around port areas.‘
Due to the high risk posed by Asian gypsy moths, AQIS identifies and monitors vessels from AGM-affected countries and state agriculture departments set traps around port areas to act as early warning systems.
Dead bee harbours rare hitchhiker
AQIS officer Nathan Luke with
the magnified larva-carrying bee
on screen
In order to make a formal identification and check for potential parasites on the dead bees, Adelaide AQIS officer Nathan Luke was positioning one of the lifeless specimens under a remote diagnostic microscope, for Perth based AQIS Entomologist Chris Norwood, when the bee began to move about.
Nathan and Chris were quite surprised to see the bee's abdomen begin to twitch, but it wasn't the bee miraculously coming back to life—it was the larva of another creature emerging from the bee that was the cause for concern.
'It was quite a shock—a mini scene from the movie Alien,' said Nathan.
Initially suspected of being a Khapra beetle larva (exotic to Australia and probably the most feared stored grain pest in the world), the specimen was placed in a vial of vinegar and sent to the Perth office where the difficult task of formal identification could begin. The specimen proved to be a rare species and was referred to a specialist from the WA Department of Agriculture and Food for positive identification.
Back in Adelaide, and pending formal identification, the shipping container and its cargo were fumigated and re-inspected. No further insect evidence was uncovered and the shipping container was cleaned with all residues removed for destruction.
Formal identification confirmed the larva to be species Reesa vespulae (Milliron, 1939) a species so rare it doesn't have a common name. The Australian Faunal Directory lists the beetle as present in the ACT and Murray Darling Basin but not found anywhere else in Australia.
Giant marijuana haul not as it seems
AQIS officer Davide Drechsler with
the synthetic marijuana plants
destined to be used as a
training aid
David couldn't believe his eyes when he opened a carton and revealed what appeared to be several one-metre high marijuana plants.
'They looked like real plants, but when I took them out of the box I could feel synthetic material and knew they weren't organic.'
The consignment imported into Adelaide contained nine imitation plants crafted mostly from harmless plastic, but it was the lichen covered trunk that caught David's eye—lichen is a delicate, interlaced, mossy sort of plant that is part algae and part fungus which could introduce harmful plant diseases.
To counteract the quarantine risk the faux plants were gamma irradiated before being released to the importer—a training authority where the plants will be used in simulated exercises.
Undeclared poultry eggs results in not-so-paltry fine
AQIS officer Stan Dean, one
of two AQIS officers who
detected 20 undeclared poultry
eggs in luggage at Melbourne
Airport
Twenty undeclared poultry eggs were found neatly stored in the luggage of Mr Evengi Podolyan. The eggs were clearly detectable on X-ray with a follow-up inspection revealing the cache.
Poultry eggs, along with birds, poultry meat and poultry products can carry serious diseases, including bird flu (avian influenza), exotic strains of Newcastle disease, and infectious bursal disease which can devastate Australia's poultry industry and harm native bird populations.
The Incoming Passenger Card (IPC) clearly states that you must declare these items. The IPC is a legal document and you must tick YES to declare if you are carrying any food, plant material or animal products.
You will not be penalised if goods are declared. If you do not declare, you could be prosecuted and face a fine of up to $66,000 or 10 years imprisonment which may result in a criminal record.
Mr Podolyan did not declare the poultry eggs and subsequently made a false statement when he was referred to a Customs officer.
Appearing before the Broadmeadows Magistrates Court, Mr Podolyan pleaded guilty to importing goods in contravention of s 67(1) of the Quarantine Act 1908 and fined $950, and intentionally making a false or misleading statement contrary to s 234(1)(d) of the Customs Act 1901 and fined $500. Additionally he was required to pay all court costs of $1,096.
Remember—declare or beware!
AQIS officer no mug
One of the declared llama
hoof mugs from South America
that required treatment
The returning resident rightly declared on his Incoming Passenger Card that he was carrying animal products, but even he was at a loss to describe the mugs except to say he thought they would make a good gift for friends and family.
Deb enlisted the help of shift supervisor, Lional Rajapakse, who recommended the mugs be sent to an AQIS vet to verify treatment needs and taxidermy concerns after a referral to the Australian Customs and Border Protection Service for CITES came back as clear.
The verdict: the mugs required treatment by gamma irradiation and could then be released to the passenger.
It was only by chance that Deb was on the morning shift several weeks later with Argentinean born AQIS officer Dino Fabrizzi who shed light on the drinking mugs and their intended purpose.
The mugs are used in parts of South America to drink maté—a herbal beverage that can be drunk hot in the south or cool in the north, made by pouring hot water onto dried herbs/leaves which is left to infuse.
Maté is served with a metal straw/pipe (bombilla) and the beverage is sucked through this tube which also acts as sieve and is commonly served out of hollowed out gourds (a cucurbit related to pumpkins, melons and cucumbers). The drink on its own tastes quite bitter, but toasted sugar can be added to sweeten the taste.
It is a popular drink in Argentina, Paraguay and Uruguay and is a common social practice in parts of Brazil, Chile, eastern Bolivia, Lebanon, Syria and Turkey where it is traditionally consumed in a social setting, such as family gatherings and with friends.
Fruit and veg stopped at the border
The undeclared fruit and
vegetables detected in a
consignment of unaccompanied
personal effects
Australian Customs and Border Security officers Robert Hobson and Val Yau inspected the consignment and came across a mountain of fresh fruits and vegetables which were then photographed, separated from the main consignment, and placed in a plastic bag for protection. Once the package was resealed and wrapped in Quarantine hold tape, Robert and Val immediately referred the matter to AQIS officer Ross Anderson.
'It was a very large consignment of fruit and vegetables that were detected with the help of Customs,' explained Ross.
When the client came in to collect the goods, they were further inspected by AQIS officers Ron Hays and Ian Bulloch. The officers then seized 28 fresh ripe bananas, six very large taros or yams, and 14 fresh baby egg plants. The officers then explained in detail the risks of bringing such food into Australia, especially fresh bananas, due to the danger of Black Sigatoka fungus.
'I explained to the client that bananas can carry many diseases including black Sigatoka, a fungus that causes economic hardship to growers. The fruit and vegetables had to be destroyed' said Ian.
Although disappointed that she was not going to be able to enjoy the fruit and vegetables, the client was happy to accept that the items were not allowed entry in to Australia and were to be destroyed under AQIS supervision.
'This is an example of the great working relationship that we have with our Customs colleagues' Ross said. The Customs officers involved in the detection were formally recognised for their effort in the detection.