TLmt607 Forum

please follow directions or I will dispute!!

Please answer original forum with a minimum of 250 words and respond to both students separately with a minimum of 100 words each 

first page original forum with references 

second page said response with reference

third page Sabrina response with references 

Original Forum 

Discuss the transporters role, the ports role and the governments role in controlling invasive species and other hazards inherent in the movement of goods, goods themselves, and their packaging, specifically addressing the management of wastes at port activities as part of the total solution.

Student response

said

Hello Class,

This weeks subject for discussion is one of the most painful portions of not only civilian but also military movement planning and execution via sealift. The US Customs and Border Protection agency has very strict guidelines on controlling, detecting and eliminating entrance of invasive species and other hazards entering the US through seaports and other ports of entry. 

Armed Forces Pest Management Board Technical Guide No.31 (TG31) addresses responsibilities and requirements preparing the military gear for redeployment to the Continental United States (CONUS).   

TG31 (2021) describes the impact of invasive species as Over the past 200 years, several thousand foreign plant and animal species have become established in the US. Approximately one in seven has become invasive, leading to problems that cost the US more than $137 billion each year. An invasive species is a non-native species that, when introduced, causes or is likely to cause economic or environmental harm or harm to human health. Invasive species often reduce both economic productivity and the ecological integrity of US agricultural and natural resources thereby having significant impact on the food supply. Conservation experts have found that in the US, invasive alien plant infestations cover 100 million acres and spread at a rate of 14 percent per year, an area twice the size of Delaware (TG31 2021). The issue does not need any further elaboration in my view.

To address this issue the United States Transportation Command mirrored the requirements of the DoD customs and border clearance policy with federal laws and regulations. Few chapters in Defense Transportation Regulation (DTR) dedicated to this subject. It prescribes procedures and assigns responsibilities for prevention of entrance of invasive species and pests to the USA. DTR Chapter 505 (2021) directs that cargo will not be loaded aboard any conveyance in a foreign country for movement to the US unless it is free of animal and plant contamination or pest infestations required by the US port of entry US customs and border protection agriculture specialists (DTR Chapter 505 2021). 

The laws and regulations are set to follow. It is leadership’s responsibility to train and deploy the subject matter experts to respective locations prior to redeployment. Proper inspections, cleaning of redeploying military gear and cargo in general will save billions of taxpayer dollars as well as our habitat for future generations. Any cargo detected with invasive species or pests must be quarantined either on the vessel or at the staging yard till discrepancies are fixed. Avoidance of such delay, in its turn, increases the overall performance of the port. 

Respectfully,

Said  

References:

Armed forces pest management board technical guide No. 31 (2021). Operational washdown and agricultural inspection preparation for military conveyance and equipment. Retrieved from https://www.acq.osd.mil/eie/afpmb/docs/techguides/tg31.pdf

Defense Transportation Regulation Chapter 505. Agricultural cleaning and inspection requirements. Retrieved from https://www.ustranscom.mil/dtr/part-v/dtr_part_v_505.pdf

Sabrina

With the recent growth in demand for the movement of people and goods worldwide, the requirement for controlling invasive species and other hazards with the movement of these goods has also substantively increased. Transporters, ports, and the government are crucial in ensuring our ecosystems are not disrupted or potentially destroyed.

When looking at the government’s role, we see a direct need for prevention being the core of environmental port policies (Miralles et al., 2021). These policies should include constantly revisiting and updated policies covering inspections, a requirement to monitor the species in and around the port, and continually analyzing the risks based on the volume of production, imports, and exports of all ports (Miralles et al., 2021). Once these environmental port policies are put into effect, we then see a requirement for the government to ensure all ports all conducting procedures as identified in these polices.

As we look at the roles of both transporters and those of the port, we see a fundamental requirement to ensure compliance with the environmental policies that the government has placed into effect. Additional requirements should include routine cleaning, including ship’s hulls, equipment utilized in and around ports, and continuous training of new and existing employees to ensure a clear understanding of all policies and how to follow them correctly.

A country that has taken several initiatives in an attempt to reduce the threat of invasive species is Australia. A recently implemented policy requires arriving ships to receive an inspection and be treated for marine pests before they enter a marina (Miralles et al., 2021). My follow-up question for the class is, do you believe this would be an effective method for all ports in the United States to consider? Why or why not?

REFERENCE

Miralles, L., Ibabe, A., Gonzlez, M., Garca-Vzquez, E., & Borrell, Y. J. (2021). If you know the enemy and know yourself: Addressing the problem of biological invasions in ports through a new NIS invasion threat score, routine monitoring, and preventive action plans. Frontiers in Marine Science, 8. https://doi.org/10.3389/fmars.2021.633118