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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.
Dried fish surprise
A Cambodian student arrived into Hobart declaring dried fish. However, on inspection, the fish was found to be infested with maggot-like insects. The fish was placed in a freezer for treatment.
Bat stuck to suitcase
AQIS officer Eddie Agius inspected a passenger's suitcase in Melbourne off a flight from Beijing. The passenger was as surprised as Eddie to find a dried bat stuck to the lining of the suitcase. The dried bat was destroyed and on further investigation the passenger was referred to Customs.
First-time traveller doesn't declare
AQIS officer Troy Edwards intercepted a non-declaring student from a flight from Beijing to Melbourne. The following items were found: 500 g of meat jerky, 100 g of Yak cheese, 500 g of apples and 100 g of non-commercial dried fruit with seeds. The passenger was a first-time traveller to Australia and only understood minimal English. The passenger was made aware of Australia's strict quarantine requirements and issued with a written warning—all items were destroyed.
High quarantine risk
In NSW, a recent consignment of wheat seed from Ethiopia was found to have fungal spores growing on it. These were identified as teliospore of Puccinia graminis var tritici—stem rust of wheat. This stem rust is exotic to Australia and of high quarantine risk. It is slowly spreading from Africa to the Middle East and is causing great concern among wheat breeders as there are currently no genes available for resistance to its spread. Wheat is an economically important crop worth $4.2 billion annually in Australia and this disease has the potential to devastate our industry. The entire consignment of wheat seed was destroyed with full agreement from the importers.
Oversize cabin needs treatment
A Canadian log cabin made from western red cedar and Douglas fir arrived in 40 foot (12 metre) containers in Brisbane. The cabin contained pieces of oversize timber up to 40 feet long which had been treated offshore with methyl bromide—which is not an acceptable treatment for oversize timber owing to gas penetration issues. The log cabin timbers were sent for heat treatment after a purpose-built timber jinker was made to move the timber into the treatment chamber.
AQIS inspects new zoo residents
King Baboon, Salmon Pink-toed Bird Eater, Goliath—no, these are not some bizarre monikers from the world of international wrestling. As AQIS's entomology team will tell you, these are common names for one of nature's most gruesome exotica—the tarantula.
18 of the multi-legged creatures recently arrived at Melbourne Zoo—imported direct from the National Aquarium in Baltimore USA—as part of a permanent public exhibit.
Each spider is the size of a fist—black, hairy and temperamental— and the thought of closely inspecting these creatures probably doesn't appeal. But for AQIS operational scientists Adam Broadley, Luke Watson and Antonette Sindik this was entomology heaven. A rare chance to get up close and personal with some of nature's most unloved.
Working in the sweaty, humid confines of the glassed viewing enclosure that forms the zoo's quarantine-approved high security facility, Adam and Melbourne Zoo's Patrick Honan were soon engaged in the busy work of removing the spiders from their containers, and carrying out an identification and health check before transferring them into their individual tarantula cages.
All the tarantulas were raised in a captive breeding program and as required by AQIS regulations, all are non-pregnant females to prevent the possibility of future matings. Each spider was shipped in its own escape-proof container boldly labeled 'Live Animals under Quarantine'.
AQIS rules for importing these spiders are strict—import conditions only allow spiders to be imported into an AQIS-approved zoo where they must remain for the rest of their days, never to be released. Each spider must be housed in an individual cage and inspected daily for a minimum of 12 weeks. During this period AQIS and zoo entomologists are on constant alert for any possible parasites or symptoms of fungal, viral or other pathogens that might be found. At the completion of this intensive isolation period—and on a regular basis—AQIS will continue to audit and inspect the spiders.
Now in their cages, the tarantulas are on daily viewing for the general public.