ASFB Home > 2003 > Biological Invasions: Consequences for Parasites, Pathogens, Emerging Diseases, and Fisheries in the Marine Environment.

A Risk Management Framework for Marine Biosecurity in New Zealand

Camilla Cox

Senior Policy Analyst Marine Biosecurity, Ministry of Fisheries, PO Box 1020, Wellington
Email: camilla.cox@fish.govt.nz

The Ministry of Fisheries has developed a Risk Management Framework for marine biosecurity. A RMF is …“the culture, processes and structures that are directed towards the effective management of potential opportunities and adverse effects”. The focus is largely on operational risk—improving processes to achieve better outcomes.

The RMF aids the decision making process and operational planning. However, it must be transparent and credible. All the other parties (incl. stakeholders, politicians, management) must be able to identify ownership and therefore intrinsically trust the outcome. This means involvement, consultation, and communication.

The RMF ties decision-making to higher-level goals or the “values” that we are trying to protect in the marine environment. It is not a risk assessment tool per se, but risk assessment plays an important role in identifying vulnerabilities and threats. The RMF needs to be coupled with the biological component of risk management. This biological component identifies the hazards that threaten the values important to us—managing biological threat is the essential focus of marine biosecurity. The RMF will be reviewed regularly to reflect new knowledge and experience and the constantly changing operational environment. In many ways the marine biosecurity RMF is very modest in scope and intent, but it is still being seen as highly innovative in biosecurity circles and is a potential model for other biosecurity agencies.

Room 1 Tuesday 1.00 pm