Ornamental fish and marine invertebrates from all countries

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Issued pursuant to Section 22 of the Biosecurity Act 1993
Dated: 21 March 2007

USER GUIDE

The information in MAF animal product import health standards is presented in numerically ordered sections with descriptive titles. Sections are grouped into one of four parts, designated alphabetically.

Part A. GENERAL INFORMATION contains sections of general interest, including those relating to the legal basis for MAF import health standards and the general responsibilities of every importer of animal products.

Part B. IMPORTATION PROCEDURE contains sections which outline the requirements to be met prior to and during importation. Whether a permit to import is required to be obtained prior to importation is noted, as are conditions of eligibility, transport and general conditions relating to documentation accompanying the consignment.

Part C. CLEARANCE PROCEDURE contains sections describing the requirements to be met at the New Zealand border and, if necessary, in a transitional facility in New Zealand prior to any consignment being given biosecurity clearance.

Part D: APPENDIX ONE contains a list of the ornamental fish and marine invertebrates eligible for importation into New Zealand.

PART A. GENERAL INFORMATION

1 IMPORT HEALTH STANDARD

1.1 Pursuant to section 22 of the Biosecurity Act 1993, this document is the import health standard for the importation into New Zealand of ornamental fish and marine invertebrates from all countries.

1.2 Obtaining biosecurity clearance for each consignment of ornamental fish and marine invertebrates into New Zealand is dependent upon the consignment meeting the requirements of this import health standard.

1.3 This import health standard may be reviewed, amended or revoked if there are changes in New Zealand's import policy or the animal health status of the originating country, or for any other lawful reason, at the discretion of the Chief Technical Officer.

2 IMPORTER'S RESPONSIBILITIES

2.1 The costs of MAF in performing functions relating to the importation of the commodity shall be recovered in accordance with the Biosecurity Act and any regulations made under that Act.

2.2 All costs involved with the importation, which include documentation, pre-export isolation, selection, testing, treatment, transport, quarantine, servicing and supervision and obtaining a biosecurity direction and/or biosecurity clearance shall be borne by the importer or agent. The Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry (MAF) shall not accept any liability for any losses sustained through quarantine procedures if fish are destroyed because of disease or parasites, or because they are prohibited species.

2.3 The importer shall make all arrangements for transport and obtain necessary transit authorities from any third countries on the transport route.

2.4 Where required, the consignment must be accompanied by a permit to export by the legislation of the country of origin and the Convention on the International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES): www.cites.org. The importer is advised to clarify the status of the species of origin of animal products in relation to international agreements on their trade, prior to export. Material arriving in New Zealand without a permit to export may be subject to seizure by the New Zealand Department of Conservation.

2.5 It is the importer’s responsibility to ensure that they are compliant with the current version of the relevant import health standard at the time of importation into New Zealand. Current versions of import health standards are available online at www.biosecurity.govt.nz/commercial-imports/import-health-standards/search

2.6 The importer must notify the supervisor of the transitional facility a minimum of 72 hours before the expected time of arrival of each consignment.

3 DEFINITIONS

Biosecurity Clearance

A clearance under section 26 of the Biosecurity Act (1993) for the entry of goods into New Zealand.

Biosecurity Direction

Written authority from an inspector, given under section 25 of the Biosecurity Act (1993), to move uncleared goods from a transitional facility or biosecurity control area to another transitional facility, containment facility or biosecurity control area, or to re-export those goods from New Zealand.

Chief Technical Officer

A person appointed by the Director-General as a chief technical officer under section 101 of the Biosecurity Act (1993).

Inspector

Means a person who is appointed an inspector under section 103 of the Biosecurity Act (1993).

MAF

The New Zealand Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry.

Transitional facility

Means (a) any place approved as a transitional facility in accordance with section 39 of the Biosecurity Act (1993) for the purpose of inspection, testing, storage, treatment, holding or destruction of uncleared goods; or (b) a part of a port declared to be a transitional facility in accordance with section 39 of the Biosecurity Act (1993).

PART B. IMPORTATION PROCEDURE

4 PERMIT TO IMPORT

4.1 Prior to importation, it is mandatory that the importer applies for a permit to import. An application for a permit can be obtained from:

Animal Imports Team, Pre-Clearance Directorate, Biosecurity New Zealand
Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry, PO Box 2526, Wellington
Fax: +64 4 894 0662 or email: imports@maf.govt.nz

4.2 A permit to import may be issued for multiple consignments.

5 ELIGIBILITY

5.1 Ornamental fish and marine invertebrates listed in Part D: Appendix One of this import health standard are eligible for importation into New Zealand.

5.2 All requirements of this import health standard must be met for the commodity to be eligible for importation.

6 DOCUMENTATION ACCOMPANYING THE CONSIGNMENT

6.1 The consignment shall be accompanied by the following appropriately completed documentation:

6.1.1 A copy of the valid permit to import; AND

6.1.2 A list of the scientific species name, number and origins of the ornamental fish and marine invertebrates in each container, or the code/reference number of each container if relevant, comprising the whole consignment shall accompany the consignment to New Zealand. A copy of this list must be provided to the supervisor of the transitional facility; AND

6.1.3 CITES or other conservation related documentation, where neccesary (refer to clause 2.4 above).

6.2 Documentation shall be in English, but may be bilingual (language of exporting country/English).

6.3 It is the importer’s responsibility to ensure that any documentation presented in accordance with the requirements of this import health standard is original (unless otherwise specified) and clearly legible. Failure to do so may result in delays in obtaining biosecurity direction and/or clearance or rejection of the consignment.

7 TRANSPORT TO NEW ZEALAND

7.1 All fish and marine invertebrates in the consignment must be packaged in accordance with International Air Transport Association (IATA) Live Animal Regulations.

7.2 Ornamental fish and marine invertebrates from one species only (according to the approved species in Appendix One) are to be grouped in individual containers and must be packaged in leak-proof bags, each bag containing only one species.

7.3 Each container, or group of containers, is to be labelled with:

7.3.1 the species and quantity contained within any container; or

7.3.2 a code/reference number so that species and quantity contained within any container can be ascertained.

7.4 The bag must be colourless and sufficiently transparent to enable proper inspection and identification of the fish and must not contain any extraneous matter, unapproved plant material, pests or unauthorised species of fish and marine invertebrates. The use of outer bags of opaque materials or half-black bags to provide a dark shipping environment is acceptable, provided the contents of the bag can be properly inspected to the satisfaction of the inspector.

PART C: CLEARANCE PROCEDURE

8 BIOSECURITY DIRECTION

8.1 Upon arrival in New Zealand the documentation accompanying the consignment shall be inspected by an Inspector at the port of arrival. The Inspector shall having verified that all the required documentation is present, issue a written biosecurity direction to the importer or agent which authorises the consignment to move from the airport to the approved transitional facility named on the permit to import by the quickest practicable route. If there are any certification problems the supervisor shall be notified.

8.2 The inspector is to notify the supervisor responsible for the supervision of the quarantine facility that the consignment has been issued a biosecurity direction to move to the facility.

8.3 The outer containers holding the containers of ornamental fish and marine invertebrates are to be sealed with seals approved by MAF to ensure that between application and removal security has been maintained e.g. tape, Tyden Seal or padlock.

9 QUARANTINE IN NEW ZEALAND

9.1 At the quarantine facility the supervisor shall inspect the seals before the containers are opened and verify during unloading, with the assistance of the operator of the quarantine facility, that the species and approximate numbers of ornamental fish and/or marine invertebrates within the consignment are as recorded on the accompanying documentation.

9.2 If discrepancies are recorded between the species of ornamental fish and/or marine invertebrates within the consignment and those recorded in Appendix One of this import health standard any non-approved fish and invertebrates must be re-shipped or destroyed under MAF supervision.

9.3 During unloading, the water in the containers shall be treated with a chlorine based disinfectant as described in the MAF Biosecurity Authority Standard 154.02.06: Transitional facilities for ornamental fish and marine invertebrates (www.biosecurity.govt.nz/regs/trans/stds). Any plants and the containers themselves are to be incinerated or similarly treated with chlorine based disinfectant.

9.4 The ornamental fish and marine invertebrates must be held in the facility named in the permit to import for a quarantine period of not less than six weeks in the case of freshwater fish, or three weeks in the case of marine fish and marine invertebrates.

9.4 The supervisor reserves the right to remove fish and/or specimens at any time for such tests as may be required. Fish must be made available for inspection by the supervisor. If an exotic disease or pathogenic disease agent is found the Chief Technical Officer may direct any, or all the fish to be detained in quarantine for further testing, or order their destruction.

9.5 All disease testing shall be conducted at the Investigation and Diagnostic Centre of Biosecurity New Zealand, Upper Hutt, Wellington.

9.7 Based upon the clinical and fish management history and the samples provided by the supervisor, the fish pathologist at the Laboratory shall select the laboratory examinations that are appropriate. The specific disease agents of interest include:

Aeromonas salmonicida
Vibrio sp.
Edwardsiella sp.
Pasteurella sp.
Infectious pancreatic necrosis virus
Streptococcus sp.
Yersinia sp.
Epizootic haemorrhagic necrosis virus
Viral haemorrhagic septicaemia
Salmonid herpes virus Type II
Spring viraemia of carp
Viral erythrocytic necrosis virus
Marine anaemia
Proliferative kidney disease
Kudoa sp.
Loma sp.

10 BIOSECURITY CLEARANCE

10.1 At the end of the quarantine period, the consignment may, subject to sections 27 and 28 of the Biosecurity Act 1993, be given a biosecurity clearance pursuant to section 26 of the Biosecurity Act 1993, providing documentation meets all requirements noted under ‘Documentation accompanying the consignment’ and in the MAF Biosecurity New Zealand Standard 154.02.06 Transitional facilities for ornamental fish and marine invertebrates to the satisfaction of the supervisor.

10.2 Consignments that do not meet New Zealand’s import requirements will remain in quarantine control, be re-exported or destroyed at the importers expense.

PART D: APPENDIX ONE: ORNAMENTAL FISH AND MARINE INVERTEBRATES

FRESHWATER ORNAMENTAL FISH

Key: * CITES species (refer to clause 2.4 above)

MARINE ORNAMENTAL FISH

Key: * CITES species (refer to clause 2.4 above)

MARINE INVERTEBRATES

Hard Corals