Most members will be aware that it has become increasingly difficult to import aquatic plants into Bermuda. The good news is that it is not impossible!
The challenge to importing aquatic plants revolves around the permit requirements established by the Bermuda Government Department of Environmental Protection. An import permit from the Department is required to import any plant into Bermuda. Generally, in order to import aquatic plants, the supplier must provide two things – a phytosanitary certificate and a nematode certificate.
A phytosanitary certificate basically certifies that the plants have been inspected and found to be free of harmful pests and diseases. Part of the requirement from the Department is that the plants ‘appear to be free of snails’. The US Department of Agriculture (USDA) can issue phytosanitary certificates. An inspection by the USDA usually incurs a fee that is invariably passed on to the customer by the supplier. A fee of $100 for the phytosanitary certificate is not unusual so it makes sense to order a sizeable number of plants so that the cost of the certificate can be spread across the number of plants ordered.
The most challenging certificate is the one that declares the shipment to be free of nematodes – a small worm that can be found in soil and the roots of plants. There are two forms of nematode certificate. The first certifies that the growing facility has been inspected in the previous 12 months and been found free of nematodes. The second certifies that the specific shipment of plants has been examined and found to be free of nematodes. For some reason, it is proving to be almost impossible to find a plant supplier who can meet the requirements of the nematode certificate. As a result, imports of aquatic plants have all but ceased. However, there is an opportunity to import aquatic plants without a nematode certificate.
Enquiries with the Department of the Environment revealed that bunch plants (stem plants) may be imported without a nematode certificate provided that they don’t have roots attached. A shipment of rootless bunch plants still requires an import permit and a phytosanitary certificate but they are considerably easier to get than a nematode certificate. With this new knowledge, I recently set about importing 105 bunches of aquatic plants.
The first step was identifying a supplier who was prepared to ship plants to Bermuda. Having found a supplier, I then contacted the Plant Lab at the Department of Environmental Protection (formerly ‘Ag and Fish’) at the Botanical Gardens. I completed an application for an import permit, listing the specific plant species that I wished to import together with the number of each plant to be imported. Within a couple of days I was issued an import permit. The import permit outlined the conditions for importation, which included the need for a phytosanitary certificate. The shipment must also be sent directly to the Plant Lab for inspection prior to being released to the importer.
Once I had the import permit I was able to send it to the supplier and place my order. The supplier that I used only has the USDA inspectors visit the facility once per month so international orders are handled together at that time. I patiently waited for the appointed date of the USDA inspection so that my plant order could be shipped. Unfortunately, when the USDA inspectors attended the premises and looked at the Bermuda import permit they declined to sign a certificate. They wondered how they were supposed to certify the shipment to be absolutely free of snails or snail eggs.
Enquiries with the Plant Lab revealed that the wording on the permit was not strictly correct. They only needed the USDA to certify that the plants ‘appeared’ to be free of snails. This information was conveyed back to the supplier and an amended import permit was issued to clarify the requirement. Arrangements were then made for the USDA inspectors to revisit the facility to carry out the inspection and to issue the phytosanitary certificate. On the second visit, everything went according to plan and the necessary paperwork was issued. The supplier then had to cut the roots of all of the plants that were destined for Bermuda. They pride themselves on supplying bunch plants that have a healthy growth of roots, as that helps to ensure that they will be healthy when delivered and will be more likely to survive. Cutting off the roots makes the plants less likely to survive but is a local requirement to avoid the need for a nematode certificate. With the roots removed, the plants were shipped the next day using UPS.
In the United States, using UPS ensures a next day delivery of the plants. That is obviously not the case for Bermuda. The plants were shipped on a Friday and arrived in Bermuda on the Monday. The local UPS office didn’t deliver the plants to the Plant Lab until Wednesday morning. The plants were examined and released by the Plant Lab on Wednesday afternoon. By the time I received the plants, they had been in a dark shipping box, minus their roots, for five days. In addition to having to survive five days of darkness, the plants are shipped in ‘damp’ conditions but not submerged in water. Not surprisingly, some of the more delicate plants didn’t fare as well as the more robust species. In this shipment, the Ambulia and the Stargrass didn’t do well at all but the remaining species came through quite well. This needs to be taken into consideration when ordering plants.
With about 35 species of bunch plants being readily available, it is now possible to add some variety to local planted aquariums. Anyone seeking to set up a large planted tank would do well to place their own order, directly with an overseas supplier to ensure that they get the number and variety of plants necessary to get the tank off to a good start. The Plant Lab staff are extremely helpful and will guide you through the process. The shipping costs and the fee for a phytosanitary certificate make it more costly to place small orders. However, for those who are interested in acquiring plants but do not wish to go through the hassle of importing them, I am considering taking orders for a second shipment. If you are interested, e-mail me at morefish@transact.bm.
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Here is the shipping box and a close up showing how the plants arrived
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Here is the shipment of plants laid out in groups, per species
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Here is a photo of some Ambulia that didn’t ship
well and most of leaves have died off.
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Here is a photo of Hygrophila corymbosa that shipped
very well – most plants were fairly intact
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Hemianthus micranthemoides as they arrived
– in good shape
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Didiplis diandra in the aquarium
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Hemianthus micranthemoides after being in the
aquarium for a couple of weeks
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