New Zealand's biosecurity protections will be bolstered this summer by more officers, detector dogs, airport hosts, and an enhanced public awareness campaign.
Biosecurity New Zealand has recruited 72 frontline officers this year, including 24 recent graduates who will be based at Auckland Airport over the summer. Detector dog handlers on duty this summer will increase nationwide from 30 to 39.
"We have strengthened our frontline to ensure biosecurity threats such as foot-and-mouth disease and brown marmorated stink bug do not cross the border and harm the country’s NZD 54 billion primary sector," said Biosecurity New Zealand commissioner Mike Inglis.
"The additional detector dog team capacity means we can make greater use of airport express lanes to speed up passenger flows. Opening our express lanes to more travellers and changing how we assess passengers for biosecurity risk will result in more efficient processing.”
Inglis added biosecurity controls were necessary to protect New Zealand.
At the same time, they wanted to build on processing improvements over the past year that have resulted in nearly a 50 percent reduction in the time it takes passengers to get through biosecurity at Auckland Airport.
The quickest way to pass through biosecurity screening has been to avoid bringing food or other items that could pose a biosecurity risk. Travellers who completed a digital declaration would increasingly experience faster border processing.
The New Zealand Traveller Declaration can be completed 24 hours before departing for New Zealand.
This summer, 44 part-time biosecurity hosts will be hosted at New Zealand’s four main international airports. This followed successful trials last summer, using 19 hosts to welcome air passengers on arrival, help with queue management, and provide friendly biosecurity assistance.
An enhanced public awareness campaign aimed at travellers to New Zealand will start in mid-December. Like previous years, the campaign will encourage travellers to declare or dispose of potentially harmful items upon arrival and prompt them to think about the things they bring before they arrive.
"The more informed travellers are about our biosecurity rules before they visit New Zealand, the less likely they are to bring risk items in. Those who don’t declare face an infringement fee of NZD 400 or even prosecution."
Inglis expected a slight increase in international passenger arrivals this summer, as available seating rose 1.8 percent to around 3.95 million seats between November and March.
Peak international airport arrivals are expected between December and January. He said arrival volumes have been increasing monthly, approaching pre-COVID levels.
"Nationwide, we screened 562,980 passengers in October, up from 544,370 in the same month last year. Officers also seized 8,854 risk items and issued 831 infringement notices to passengers who failed to declare items in October."
Inglis also mentioned that the most common seizures were fresh produce, dirty camping equipment, soiled boots, and meat products. Recent unusual finds included undeclared eggs filled with silicon and an ornately carved cow skull from Indonesia.
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