The 2019-20 brown marmorated stink bug (BMSB) risk season has come to an end with the number of live interceptions well down on last year.
At last count there had been 57 live bugs found in 44 detections since the beginning of the season on 1 September 2019. At the same time last year there were 212 live finds from 73 separate detections.
BMSB is a biosecurity pest that has the potential to devastate many of our horticultural industries. The pest is not currently in New Zealand, but it is a tenacious hitchhiker already established in many trading partner countries. This means large numbers of BMSB are detected at the New Zealand border each year.
The results from this year show the success of the move to introduce offshore cargo treatment requirements for more countries at the beginning of the stink bug season. Verification checks carried out at the port and transitional facilities show that 99% of containers treated in Europe have arrived clean. As with previous seasons, special attention has been given to goods arriving from markets considered risk-countries and which have had contamination problems in the past.
Strong biosecurity continues to be vital for our industry and this outcome is the result of the combined effort of government, industries under GIA, and the continued support of the freight forwarding and logistics community. Summerfruit NZ, through its representation of the summerfruit industry and work as a member of the BMSB Council, continues to support the readiness and response work plan that will ensure this pest remains out of our country for seasons to come.