One such pest is the Thrips palmi – better known as melon thrips. Thrips were recently found in Boston for the first time in five years. In addition to orchids the melon thrip feeds on a wide variety of crops such as cucumbers, squashes, tomatoes, peppers, potatoes, among other crops of the melon and nightshade families. The thrip is frequently found in cargo coming from the Pacific to ports in Hawaii, Puerto Rico and Florida but very rarely in Boston.

Photo Credit: William Tang

The highly destructive melon thrip, which can devastate a wide variety of crops.

Impressive record
The man who found the thrips is CBP agriculture specialist Chadi Kiami, who has compiled an impressive record of intercepting hazardous pests. So impressive that the U.S. Department of Agriculture awarded Kiami an Outstanding Performance award in December 2005.

He has been as an agriculture specialist for almost two years. During June 2005 he started inspecting cargo on daily basis. Between June and the end of October, he had intercepted more than 204 reportable pests including 170 pests in shipments of produce from the Netherlands. In those four months he found more reportable pests in perishable cargo than did any other port for the entire fiscal year. EC