The Port of Everett sits on the Port Gardner Bay at the mouth of the Snohomish River in the picturesque Pacific Northwest and is located 25 miles north of Seattle on the Puget Sound. The Everett POE encounters many foreign vessels as it serves as a key inspection point for Canadian and Asian cargo and travelers.

On July 30, a foreign vessel arrived at the Everett port. The vessel’s travel log indicated that its previous ports of call included various locations in Japan and China. After review, agriculture specialists deemed an inspection absolutely necessary as the Asian Gypsy Moth is known to be established in two of the areas that the vessel had previously visited.

Asian Gypsy Moths pose a major threat to forest habitats by causing serious defoliation and deterioration to trees and shrubs. They were first identified in North America in 1991 near the Port of Vancouver and shortly thereafter were discovered in Washington and Oregon.

A pest-risk assessment prepared by the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service and the USDA’s Forest Service concluded that due to similarities between North American and Asian ecosystems, the Asian Gypsy Moth has the potential to colonize in North American forests.

If established in the United States, each female moth could lay egg masses that yield hundreds of voracious caterpillars with appetites for more than 500 species of trees and shrubs. This would severely weaken plant life, killing them or making them susceptible to diseases or other pests.

At Everett, CBP agricultural specialists and officers conducted the inspection and discovered over 100 egg masses of the Asian Gypsy Moth in various locations on the vessel. They collected samples which were immediately sent to a laboratory for further analysis and the vessel was denied entry.

The officers involved now needed to notify outside agencies, specifically USDA of the threat. Notifications were immediately made to the USDA and the Washington State Department of Agriculture. USDA’s Quarantine Policy Analysis Support and the Washington State Plant Health Director directed CBP to order the vessel out of U.S. territorial waters under the authority of the Plant Protection Act.

CBP determined the correct procedures in coordination with USDA and advised the Agriculture Specialists and Officers on the vessel of the protocol to manage this incident. CBP then contacted the U.S. Coast Guard Watch Floor, advising of the emerging situation. USCG responded by escorting the vessel out of U.S. territorial waters and tracking it through utilization of their Vessel Tracking System.

As a result of this significant interception, CBP provided an extensive alert and muster which led to two more important Asian Gypsy Moth seizures made by CBP agriculture specialists in coordination with USDA and the Coast Guard.

On August 21, a vessel arrived at the Lost Angeles Port of Entry from Japan. CBP agricultural specialists, aware of the recent interception at the Everett POE, noticed a matching port of a call and conducted a thorough inspection which resulted in the discovery of over 60 Asian Gypsy Moth egg masses and over 30 adult dead moths. CBP notified USDA and, due to the number and locations of the egg masses, USDA ordered the vessel out of U.S. waters with the assistance of the USCG.

A similar incident took place just a few days later at the Port of Tacoma, where Agriculture Specialists targeted a vessel for inspection due to the recent interceptions, paired with the vessel’s previous ports of call. In this instance, over 50 egg masses were discovered on the vessel. USDA was once again immediately contacted and the USCG coordinated with CBP to monitor the vessel’s movement out of U.S. waters.

The collaborative efforts of CBP, USDA and USCG in these instances successfully protected America’s forest lands from the invasion of highly destructive pests.

“Each agency played a critical role in these situations,” said CBP’s Assistant Commissioner of Field Operations Thomas Winkowski.

“The joint efforts that these three agencies initiated are true examples of the benefits of productive dialogue and open communication,” Winkowski said. “In order to successfully intercept the pests, identify the severity of the threat, and remove these vessels from our waters, CBP, USDA and the USCG all needed to be fully involved. We are grateful to all those who played a role in these interceptions.”