Homeland Security seizes
Saba herbarium specimens
SABA--Over 800 Saba plants ended up in quarantine at JFK Airport recently, almost spoiling a very successful herbarium expedition to the island. Homeland Security agents seized the entire “catch” of the three New York Botanical Garden (NYBG) botanists when they entered the United States on March 13.
The specimens will eventually be posted to the NYBG’s virtual herbarium Website, “Plants and Lichens of Saba.”
Expedition leader Dr. William Buck said the group had left Saba with all permissions in hand, including permits required to leave the Netherlands Antilles and to enter the United States with the collection.
However, when the group was going through Agricultural Inspection at US Customs, run by the Department of Homeland Security, the agent stopped Dr. Scott Mori, who had about 400 plant specimens, carefully laid between pages of The Daily Herald newsprint.
The specimens had been dried in Saba, were all identified in the margin of the newspapers, and had been carefully placed in a suitcase.
Once Mori was stopped, the agent then recalled Buck, who had already passed through to give up his collections of about 330 specimens as well.
For reasons that were not clear to the scientists, the specimens were seized, apparently for further identification.
Buck said the concern was that the specimens could possibly deteriorate and mould in the close confines of their packaging, which is required to be watertight. Another worry was that an examining agent might rummage through the samples and damage or mix them up.
The plants were in a type of quarantine for 10 days as officials decided what to do with them. In the end, Buck said that all but one sample was returned. The confiscated plant was Cuscuta americana, known locally as Dodder Vine or Love Vine. It was considered a noxious weed.
This decision appeared somewhat arbitrary since the NYBG has imported it on previous trips with no problem.
In addition the collection also included Antigonon leptopus or Corallita, an invasive species, which went through with no problem. St. Eustatius is currently running a programme to eradicate Corallita, which has invaded the island even more than it has Saba.
The scientists regained their collections intact on Monday. Mori said that one reason the plants survived their detention was the careful drying process they had undergone in Saba before being packed.
Buck said that scientists need to work on educating Homeland Security agents to recognize when a scientific expedition is well prepared and has the appropriate paperwork so that the scientists can quickly get the samples to a safe, climate controlled environment for further cataloguing.
“This isn’t the same as confiscating a piece of fruit from a tourist!” Buck said, venting his frustration that the team’s work on behalf of Conservation International to catalogue every plant on Saba came very close to annihilation.
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