The purpose of this list
This list is intended to help Biosecurity New Zealand target resources to ensure we are:
- anticipating potential threats
- actively managing the risk
- ready to respond if any of these pests or diseases arrive.
About the aquatic and plant priority pests and diseases
Biosecurity New Zealand keeps watch on 1000s of different pests and diseases. For this list, we considered many plant and aquatic pests and diseases that could be of serious risk to our environment and economy. We assessed how likely it was for each pest to arrive and establish here, and their potential impact on New Zealand.
The current list is a snapshot of the pests and diseases that we consider most serious to plant and aquatic health. Biosecurity risks are always changing. As our emerging risks system identifies new and changing biosecurity threats to New Zealand, we will refresh this list.
The control measures we take to keep these priority pests and diseases out will also help reduce the entry and establishment of other pests and diseases.
With increasing trade and travel, New Zealand always faces some level of biosecurity risk. While we have one of the best biosecurity systems in the world, we can always improve our risk management effectiveness.
