The 2020-21 brown marmorated stink bug (BMSB) season is wrapping up and Australia’s measures have remained strong against this serious pest, according to Mirage News.
Head of Biosecurity at the Department of Agriculture, Water and the Environment, Andrew Tongue, told Mirage News that half the number of live stink bugs in vessels were recorded this season, compared to the last three years.
“BMSB could cause significant damage to our crops if it were able to establish here, so it’s important to keep our biosecurity measures sound,” Mr Tongue said.
“Because these stink bugs can travel in goods shipped from risk countries, on shipping vessels and even in traveller’s luggage, it is important that we maintain our strict standards on BMSB.
“This season we had less live BMSB at the biosecurity entry points, which means our controls are working at minimising these risks.
“However, given the hitchhiker nature of this pest, we have seen increased interceptions in other pathways such as mail and air cargo.
“We’ve also increased the number of target risk countries to 36 this year, with Moldova, Portugal, Ukraine and Kazakhstan added this season.
For more information on Australia’s BMSB measures, refer here.
To read the full article, refer here.