"The more people move, the more things spread," said Melanie Newfield. She made a presentation on the New Zealand approach last week to the Maui Invasive Species Committee (MISC) at its offices in Makawao.

New Zealand has some similarities with Hawaii. New Zealand (or Aotearoa) is a thousand miles from the next significant landmass; Hawaii is 2,000 miles.

Both are archipelagoes with the possibility of introducing an alien on one island and then trying to prevent it from getting to the rest. New Zealand, however, has only two main islands, North and South. Hawaii's islands are more distant from each other.

New Zealand makes its main effort at ports-of-entry and is reputed to have the most effective biosecurity screening system in the world.

Its Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry takes the threat of invasive species very seriously, Newfield said. Using advanced X-ray technology and trained dogs, the ministry screens all incoming mail parcels, luggage and even passengers as they make their way into the country.

Air travelers who do not know about the strict regulations are often greeted with $250 fines for items as seemingly harmless as muddy boots.

"We have quite strict rules and means to detect illegal import," Newfield said. "We take a great deal of pride in seeing that goes on."

The state Department of Transportation is completing a cargo building at Kahului Airport that should make screening shipments by air to Maui easier. At the least, by opening shipping containers in an enclosed building, the chance that aliens will escape into nearby fields should be lessened.

Also in August, the Hawaii Superferry will start daily interisland trips. That will worsen the threat of invasive species within the islands' already delicate ecosystems, said Newfield, who is a senior adviser with Biosecurity New Zealand.

At Wednesday's meeting, Maui specialists quizzed Newfield about new strategies to prevent pests from coming to the islands.

"It will make it much easier to allow much greater numbers of vehicles to travel from one island to another," said Philip Thomas, invasive species base administrator with Hawaii Ecosystems at Risk (HEAR). "Vehicles will inevitably carry seeds, and other pests which will be impossible to adequately keep from spreading."

The meeting was attended by representatives from the leading invasive pest control agencies on Maui, including MISC, Maui Community College and HEAR.

Newfield said the number of "interesting similarities" between the two archipelagoes makes her collaboration with Hawaii Department of Agriculture officials "very helpful."

Like Hawaii, New Zealand has (or had) a number of endemic species, many of which are critically endangered or already extinct due to overdevelopment and the influx of invasive species, mainly from Asia and Australia.

"People come for the beautiful native environment, but what they see is actually introduced species," Newfield said. "We know that predators have played a major part in the extinction of our native birds."

Hawaii invasive species specialists discussed the possibility of implementing screening programs similar to New Zealand's to combat the spread of recent invasive plant and insect epidemics.

"Learning from New Zealand's success is very important," Thomas said. "We need to understand what things are working elsewhere in the world."

In addition to the exhaustive screening process at airports, post offices and harbors that Thomas said should be implemented in Hawaii, Newfield also discussed the importance of public education as well as the cooperation between New Zealand's many biosecurity agencies.

"There are a lot of people working together — that makes a difference," she said.

Hawaii invasive species specialists and the state Department of Agriculture are working with the Hawaii Superferry to address biosecurity measures.

"Overall, the Superferry has been very good at keeping an open mind," said Joylynn Paman, education specialist with MISC. "It definitely increases the amount of unwanted pests coming to Maui, but they've been working the best they can to minimize what could happen."