Pests off the gift list

Siamese fighting fish, fruit, hacky sacks filled with sand or seeds, face masks riddled with borer - all recently confiscated by biosecurity officials, and just some of the gifts that should be off Christmas lists in New Zealand this year.

As people around the country prepare to welcome overseas friends and family for Christmas, and festive mail surges through mail centres, authorities are urging extreme care to ensure the country's biosecurity barriers are not breached.

The comments follow September's launch of a campaign to increase awareness of biosecurity concerns and how the public can help limit the risk.

The campaign is partly backed by $200 instant fines for those flouting the regulations.

Stronger deterrents include fines of up to $100,000 or five years in jail for knowingly breaking the rules.

Staff at ports, airports and mail centres are now seeing an influx of illegal goods as Christmas gets closer.

Federated Farmers president Alistair Polson said farmers were particularly concerned by the possibility of foot and mouth disease entering the country, and the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry wanted people to establish what constituted a risk before arriving in New Zealand or sending mail.

"We want to tell them what those sorts of things are, urge them to leave them behind, dump them or declare them," said spokeswoman Melissa Wilson.

People visiting New Zealand or sending mail here could check regulations with travel agents or through the websites www.maf.govt.nz or www.protectnz.org.nz, she said.

Mr Polson said New Zealanders hosting visitors from overseas had a responsibility to ensure guests were aware of the biosecurity requirements.

"Many will travel from Britain, where this year's foot and mouth disease outbreak took a terrible toll.

"Others will come from parts of the world where the disease is present, such as Asia and Africa."

The disease cost Britain about $30 billion and could have dire consequences if it became established here, he said.

Ms Wilson said people often did not realise that simple gifts were illegal.

"Then you go to the other extreme when you get people bringing all sorts of weird and wonderful things - you see whole fish, chunks of meat ... and we certainly don't want that sort of thing moving in here," she said.

Recent seizures at airports and in Christmas mail included the live Siamese fighting fish, pork fat concealed in a jersey, seeds, lavender and pot-pourri, and mistletoe.

One man, returning from a holiday in Bali, was found to have an ant nest inside his surfboard.

- NZPA