| Asian Toad Gap Analysis Report 2009 |
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| Incident summary |
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In August of 2008, a Hanjin shipping container from China loaded with
granite arrived at Terminal 6 at the Port of Portland. Customs and Border
Protection staff discovered an amphibian and several spiders and immediately
resealed the container. Lack of identification of the amphibian and an
inefficient communication structure delayed decisions and actions regarding
the container and resulted in hundreds of hours of staff time across
numerous agencies and organizations before it was ultimately resolved. The
US Fish and Wildlife Service and Port of Portland recommended the Oregon
Invasive Species Council take the lead in producing this report and
convening a workgroup comprised of the entities involved in the "Asian toad
incident" to summarize the incident, assess whether actions taken were
conducted in accordance with pertinent regulations, identify possible gaps
in regulations, and make suggestions to improve interjurisdictional
interdiction activities.
For full version of the report in pdf format
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| Next steps |
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The next step in the process is to implement some of the recommendations of
the Asian toad work group. These include the creation of an INVADER ALERT
listserv (the listserv has been created and fully functional. Each participating organization will understand the guidelines for use of
the listserv, within the next two weeks) that will be used to notify
potentially affected organizations should a similar incident occur in the
future (to prevent the amount of down-time and confusion that took place
during this incident) as well as meetings with ports in Seattle and
Vancouver to discuss lesions learned from this incident and potential
protocols that can be implemented in Washington ports. There was also
discussion of a potential meeting with the Washington Invasive Species
Council.
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| Questions |
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Please contact Oregon Invasive Species Council Coordinator Lisa DeBruyckere at (503) 704-2884 or lisad@createstrat.com should you need special services, materials, or assistance.
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