“Countries are also advised that all prohibited items imported will be seized and confiscated upon arrival especially given the time frame each country was asked to submit a list of items they will take to the festival,” said Chief Quarantine Officer Elisapeta Sualevai.
Pacific island countries participating in the festival were sent quarantine forms on which to declare agricultural products, plant and animal products.
“This is not like the South Pacific Games where athletes can come in with their sporting equipment which can be cleaned and are of lower quarantine risk as opposed to the festival of arts where different types of raw or unprocessed exhibition materials to showcase countries are brought in and is much more risky,” Sualevai said.
Another challenge American Samoa faces is the awareness made to participants regarding its quarantine requirements.
The quarantine department will be on stand-by in all ports of entry and will enforce its regulations to ensure that the country is safeguarded against invasive species, pests, and diseases that could threaten not only its flora and fauna but significantly its economic security.
“All countries involved are advised to seek their national quarantine departments for quarantine treatment of items before leaving the country. All items will inspected upon arrival in compliance with treatment certificates,” Sualevai said.
American Samoa is wary of the arrival of exotic pests and disease of plants and animal which have been discovered in some participating Pacific island countries.
Preparations for the festival were intensified in the past five months.
Sualevai was mapping out the finer details of American Samoa’s quarantine surveillance and monitoring plans at the Secretariat of the Pacific Community office in Suva, Fiji.
