Latest News DAWR – Seasonal Measures for Brown Marmorated Stink Bug (BMSB) 1 September 2018 – 30 April 2019

Risks

The Brown marmorated stink bug (BMSB) is not found in Australia and needs to be kept out. It could severely impact our agricultural industries. Juveniles and adults feed on, and can severely damage, fruit and vegetable crops rendering them unsellable or reducing production yields. Adult BMSB can also be a nuisance, entering vehicles, homes and factories for shelter over winter.

They can arrive in Australia on cargo and containers shipped between September and April. This coincides with autumn and winter in the Northern Hemisphere.

You must comply with seasonal measures for certain goods arriving from certain countries that are shipped between 1 September 2018 and 30 April 2019 inclusive.

Throughout the season we will continue to review the measures based on detections of BMSB and the risk pathways.

Goods

• Certain goods (target high risk and target risk goods) manufactured, or shipped from the target risk countries as sea cargo.
• Mandatory offshore treatment of target high risk goods shipped as break bulk, in open top containers or on flat rack containers.
• Mandatory offshore treatment of target high risk goods shipped as LCL (less than container load) or FAK (freight of all kinds) prior to arrival into Australian territory.
• Mandatory treatment (onshore or offshore) of target high risk goods shipped as FCL (full container load) or FCX (full container consolidated).
• Target high risk goods shipped as FCL and FCX may be treated on arrival in Australia at the container level. However, deconsolidation or removal of goods (for example, exempt goods) will not be permitted prior to the treatment.
• Export or destruction of target high risk goods requiring mandatory offshore treatment and arriving untreated, or treated by an unapproved treatment provider, unless exceptional circumstances are granted.
• Target risk goods will be subject to increased onshore intervention through random inspection and will be directed for onshore treatment if BMSB is detected.
• Random inspection of goods after treatment to validate the effectiveness of treatments.
• Random inspection of goods from all other emerging BMSB risk countries.
• All goods must still meet standard import conditions in BICON.

Vessels

Heightened surveillance on all roll-on/roll-off (ro-ro) and general cargo vessels through additional pre-arrival reporting with a BMSB questionnaire and daily checks conducted by vessel masters.

Target risk countries

Any target high risk or target risk goods manufactured in, or shipped from these countries are subject to the BMSB seasonal measures.

Any vessel that tranships or loads goods from these countries are also subject to heightened vessel surveillance.

• United States of America
• Italy
• Germany
• France
• Russia
• Greece
• Hungary
• Romania
• Georgia
• Japan (heightened vessel surveillance will be the only measure applied).

Target high risk goods

Goods in this category require mandatory treatment for BMSB risk.
All tariffs under the following chapters are categorised as target high risk goods.

BMSB seasonal measures do not apply to goods not identified as ‘target high risk’ and ‘target risk’. However, these goods may be subject to the measures if they are part of a consignment that contains target high risk and target risk goods.

Treatments

Treatment options

• heat treatment
• methyl bromide fumigation
• sulfuryl fluoride fumigation.

Treatment rates

Heat

• At 50°C or higher for at least 20 minutes. Note: the minimum temperature of the coldest part of the treated goods should reach at least 50 °C for at least 20 minutes.

Methyl Bromide

• A dose of 16 g/m3 or above, at 15°C or above, for 12 hours or longer, with an end point reading of 50% or more of the intial concentration. Note: this minimum temperature is 5°C higher than the sulfuryl fluoride conditions.

Sulfuryl Fluoride

There are two sets of rates for sulfuryl fluoride treatments.

• Treatment providers not using an approved third party program*:
• A dose of 24 g/m3 or above, at 10oC or above, for 12 hours or longer, with a minimum end point concentration of 12 g/m3

or

• A dose of 16 g/m3 or above, at 10oC or above, for 24 hours or longer, with a minimum end point concentrtiaon of 8 g/m3
• Treatment providers using an approved third party program*:
• Achieve a CT of 200 g-h/m3 or more, while conducting the treatment at 10°C or above, for 12 hours or longer, with a minimum end point concentration of 12 g/m3

or

• Achieve a CT of 200 g-h/m3 or more, while conducting the treatment at 10oC or above, for 24 hours or longer, with a minimum end point concentration of 8 g/m3

*The approved third party programs are:

• Douglas Products Fumiguide
• Ensystex II, Inc Fumicalc

Treatment minimum standards

There are minimum standards for the application of BMSB treatments. Treatments applied for biosecurity purposes are part of managing the risk of introducing exotic pests and diseases. These treatments are only effective when conducted correctly.

It is important that treatment providers understand these requirements to effectively treat consignments for import into Australia.

Our standards outline best practice methodologies for applying biosecurity treatments.