28 March 2018
This Biosecurity Advice notifies stakeholders of the release of the Final report for the review of biosecurity import requirements for Tahitian limes from the Cook Islands, Niue, Samoa, Tonga and Vanuatu.
The final report recommends that the importation of fresh Tahitian limes to Australia from all commercial production areas of the Cook Islands, Niue, Samoa, Tonga and Vanuatu be permitted, subject to a range of biosecurity import conditions.
The final report takes into account stakeholder comments received on the draft report released in June 2017.
This Biosecurity Advice notifies stakeholders of the release of the Final report for the review of biosecurity import requirements for Tahitian limes from the Cook Islands, Niue, Samoa, Tonga and Vanuatu on the department’s website.
The department announced the commencement of the risk analysis in April 2016 (via Biosecurity Advice 2016/12) and released the draft report for public consultation in June 2017 (via Biosecurity Advice 2017/09). Comments from stakeholders on the draft report were taken into consideration in preparing the final report.
The final report identifies three pests of quarantine concern requiring risk management measures. These pests are grey pineapple mealybug (Dysmicoccus neobrevipes), Pacific mealybug (Planococcus minor) and cryptic mealybug (Pseudococcus cryptus).
The final report recommends risk management measures, combined with operational systems, to reduce the biosecurity risk to achieve the appropriate level of protection for Australia. The risk management measures include:
- a pre-export phytosanitary inspection to be undertaken by the exporting country to ensure that each consignment is free of identified quarantine pests, as well as
- a verification inspection on arrival.
If consignments are found to be infested, they are subject to appropriate remedial action.
The department received comments on the draft report from six stakeholders. Following consideration of stakeholder comments on the draft report, and a subsequent review of scientific literature, the department made a number of changes to the risk analysis.
These changes include:
- Revising the likelihood of importation of the plant pathogen, Elsinoë fawcettii, from ‘low’ to ‘moderate’ following a review of the pest risk assessment. The report contains the addition of new references.
- Updating the pest categorisation table to clarify the host association of the pest, Homalodisca vitripennis (glassy-winged sharpshooter), with citrus fruit and its potential to be imported in trade.
- Minor corrections, rewording and editorial changes for consistency and clarity.
- The addition of “Appendix B: Issues raised in stakeholder comments”, which summarises technical stakeholder comments and how the comments were considered by the department in the final report.
Dr Marion Healy
First Assistant Secretary
Biosecurity Plant Division
Contact: Mr Peter Creaser
Telephone: +61 2 6272 5094
Email:
Plant stakeholders