Marine biosecurity involves ways to protect the underwater environment from invasive pests. A large part of this is asking that all boats, recreational and commercial, check and clean their boats for hitchhiking marine pests.
Why is it so important? Despite our border regulations relating to biofouling, second in the world only to the Galapagos Islands for their rigorousness, invasive marine pests can still make it to our shores. Sometimes by natural means - a process that can take years and requires luck, or sometimes onboard incoming vessels - which can happen in hours or days.
If they arrive in New Zealand we have to do our absolute best to make sure they don’t spread far and wide. We are trying to avoid situations where invasive pests take over and destroy our ecology, and our way of life. So far we’ve been pretty lucky. But we know from the experiences of places in Australia which have experienced devastating invasions of the Northern Pacific Seastar, that we never know what is around the corner. That is why five councils in the upper North Island, alongside the Department of Conservation and Ministry for Primary Industries are amongst those working so hard on this.
In summary, so long as your boat is ‘Clean Below’ then you are good to go - for cruising, fishing, racing or anything else. Just make sure you’ve checked the rules at www.marinepests.nz.