On a ship I was on in 1970 we arriving in Australia from PNG (then an Australian Protectorate) with some passengers onboard, among them a mother and two small children.
She had bought abt. a dozen apples or oranges for her children in Port Moresby, which was clearly marked with Australian brand names. There were some left on arrival in Newcastle NSW.
The Port Health Officer nearly got an orgasm when she found the fruits and called in “the squad” to deal with this emergency.
They were “dressed to kill” when they carried the dangerous items down the gangway, placed them in a closed van and carried them off for “safe destruction”. (The van was probably fumigated afterwards)
PS: The cabin she had used on the trip was disinfected and seal for a day or more, but at least we didn’t have to fumigate the whole ship.
I guess we all have different experiences. Mine below.
When bringing a US Flagged vessel back to the US for a short visit locking up meats, fruits & vegetables is okay. Sometimes we didn’t have to lock the stuff up, food waste stays on board or placed in special trashcan on the dock.
When bringing a US Flagged vessel back to US to stay then all meats, fruits & vegetables have to go overboard, to incinerator or special trash can upon arrival.
I’ve brought F.O.C Flagged vessels to the US for both scenarios & what was true for US vessels was the same for the F.O.C ships.
This is what @ombugge said about an Australian visit 50 years ago. It’s still the same or perhaps more stringent?
The only place in the world where Customs Officials opened my checked bag to look that the soles of my work boots was NZ. That place ain’t no joke. IMO, from my experiences, no way is NZ letting a floating farm within 200nm of their coasts.
But I can imagine USCIS running some Eastern-Block holier than thou types & chip-on-the-shoulder Arabs over the coals if they had an attitude. A good attitude goes a long way with most inspectors every where. Except for New Zealand & Australia. You either do it 100% by their book or don’t do it all which is fine, & understandable by me.
The reason why Australia and NZ have these VERY strict quarantine regulation is that they are isolated islands, free from many of the “pests” (both affecting humans and animals) weeds and other invasive plants that is causing problems in other parts of the world.
They like to keep it that way, thus have strict rule on imports of anything that can cause these problems to arrive there.
BTW: Australia also have strict rule for what can be transported across state lines.
Yes it is annoying to seafarers and travelers but could be an outbreak of say “foot and mouth disease” would be devastating to the large agricultural economy that these countries depends on.
PS: I think I have pointed out earlier that birds do migrate into Australia from Asia, so they are not entirely isolated from natural sources of pathogen transmission.
These are photos my friend on the ship sent me about three months ago. The lettuce and cabbage look pretty good. I also heard they were growing other varieties. Using an entire container to grow vegetables must produce a pretty impressive yield.
They said this voyage was a four-month scientific research mission to the western Indian Ocean, so they were probably operating only in tropical regions and never went to polar areas.
It’s been more than 120 days since they set sail, and the system has apparently been running normally the whole time. I haven’t heard of any problems caused by salt spray corrosion either.
The research vessel should be returning soon, so I’ll ask them more about it when they get back.
Fantastic.Thank you.
If you followed all comments ,you would find my admission , that i had absolutely no idea about such projects thinking it is grown somewhere on deck in some containers .
After google search i found some info and it opened my eyes a little. See other comments though and opinions of those working on commercial / cargo hauling vessels.
Regrading salt . It still exists costing owners milions of dollars in hull/deck and it’s structure maintenance .
Thanks for sharing. The idea of garden fresh, picked the same day vegetables at sea sounds amazing. I would volunteer to do gardening on my off watches for free if I had the option.
That’s definitely a valid concern. If the system only grows common leafy vegetables that are permitted by the destination country, and the produce is intended solely for crew consumption rather than entering the local market, or if cultivation is stopped and all plants are cleared before arrival, would that be enough to satisfy port biosecurity requirements and allow normal port entry?
Of course, regulations and inspection standards vary significantly between countries, so this type of system may still require standardized declaration procedures in the future.
The number of IFs in your reply confirms your conclusion , that such system and idea needs to be regulated.
I can not answer your questions as in USA for example bringing food products into a country is tightly regulated and controlled jointly by:
US CBP, USDA APHIS und FDA .
In prearrival msgs one has to declare the stuff o/b following agents advise and detailed consultation if arriving first time .
Also one must follow P&I clubs (American Club issued a guide in english and other languages- Velcome to Amerika ) and industry advise as well as SMS , because USA is perceived as a super hostile ground for foreign seafarers treated almost like invasive species .
All what is declared is checked on arrival by all or one of those entities mentioned above
AND NOT BY USCIS!!! ( we call them shortly iimmigration officers )
what arrogantly and abusively was declared here by one of the small craft big mouth engineer , who seems not to have a tiniest clue about it and seems to know everything about nothing or nothing about everything but is very eloquent indeed.
BTW Wonder if moderators here are on vacation?? . @jbtam99 RULES!!!
And of course other countries have other rules, other authorities , .may be less or even more restrictive.
Years ago I sailed on the OVERSEAS NEW ORLEANS. The bridge was overwhelmed with a huge Ficus bush that had been there since the early 1990’s. Seeing a plant like the Ficus on the bridge was kind of amazing and it was a constant topic of conversation. The Mate on watch was tasked with a daily watering ritual.
Another ship I heard about which was taken over from foreign service was reputed to have had in the past live chickens, the Steward would gather eggs and occasionally dispatch a few for Sunday supper. I guess it was a little grim but practical in a way.
Finally the one good thing to come from the COVID show was slow steaming across the Pacific which allowed good trolling speed. Nothing beats fresh fish to supplement our stale long frozen normal fare.
Seems like every 10 years I’d find myself at Chittagong. This voyage we had ~200 workers living aboard for this offshore discharge of wheat. They had fresh food every day - baskets of live chickens, veg’s, and flour came aboard with them. The scuppers ran with blood every day. I didn’t get a shot of a goat murder.
In 1967 Sir Francis Chichester sailed his yacht solo around the world stopping only in Sydney. The cress he grew for fresh produce was probably destroyed and he had to use Australian seeds.
Thanks, I was googling all kinds of different ways to search for a President Truman boat or ship and nothing was coming up until you gave me the C-10 APL description.
I bet it did good with all the sunlight getting in that big wheelhouse.
