Posted on: Monday, January 17, 2005

By Jan TenBruggencate
Advertiser Science Writer

State Department of Agriculture forms are passed out on every flight to Hawai'i, and an inspector checks each card at the aircraft door or baggage claim area.

If you've filled out the form, you have amnesty. If officials or their trained dogs find something that shouldn't be there, it will either be "debugged" and returned to you or destroyed.

If you didn't fill out a form and something is found in your luggage, you could face a fine. In the case of some illegal animals, it could be as high as $50,000, said Neil Reimer, plant quarantine branch manager for the Department of Agriculture.

If you've never been stopped, it's probably because "probably 90 percent or more of the stuff that is coming in is allowed in," Reimer said. Most fruits and plants are not a problem.

"If you have persimmons from an auntie's yard in California, we just want an opportunity to look at it and make sure there is nothing harmful to the state. Normally, we would just check it and give it back. We might clean any insects off the fruit and give it back," he said.

In cases where that is not possible, the items might be taken to a Department of Agriculture facility and frozen to kill bugs, after which owners can often arrange to pick them up.

There are a few exceptions. Inspectors stop all California oranges because they can carry a Caribbean fruit fly that is not now found in Hawai'i. They'll stop bromeliads, which can carry biting no-see-um flies that could make life on Hawaiian beaches miserable.

In part, the system is an educational program to alert people that agricultural products could be a threat to the Hawaiian environment and Hawai'i agriculture, Reimer said.

"The main problem with this whole system is that it is the honor system. That's the way it was set up, not to inconvenience visitors too much," he said.

Reimer said the state has an excellent video on the plant quarantine program that is available to all airlines. He said many airlines don't show it, and he wishes they would, to better protect the islands.

The quarantine program was established in the late 1800s by King Kalakaua, preventing the importing of coffee plants to protect the Hawaiian coffee industry. Since then, it has been expanded to include animals, insects and diseases that could threaten the state. For more information, check the Department of Agriculture Web site at www.hawaiiag.org/hdoa/pi_pq.htm.

If you have a question or concern about the Hawaiian environment, drop a note to Jan TenBruggencate at P.O. Box 524, Lihu'e, HI 96766, e-mail jant@honoluluadvertiser.com or call (808) 245-3074.