Customs: Bavi exposed Rota biosecurity manpower gap

Rota did not have additional Customs and Biosecurity officers in place to inspect the surge of cargo vessels, aircraft, equipment, and supplies coming into the island following Super Typhoon Bavi, exposing a manpower gap in guarding against invasive species.

Col. James Deleon Guerrero, who oversees Customs’ biosecurity program, told Marianas Press that Rota normally has only a handful of officers because of its smaller population. After Bavi, however, disaster-relief cargo began pouring into the island before additional Customs officers from Saipan could be deployed.

“I think one of the problems that occurred down [on] Rota is that there was a delay in the deployment of officers from Saipan to actually control the influx of cargoes that was coming in there,” Deleon Guerrero said.

He said an incident involving a brown tree snake occurred around July 27, while the additional officers were not deployed until July 29.

Customs had requested that its officers be on Rota before the movement of cargo, materials and equipment began, Deleon Guerrero said.

“Unfortunately, that did not occur timely, but that is to no fault of our lack of effort on the part of our agency to be able to get those officers down there,” he said.

Deleon Guerrero said the sudden increase in post-disaster traffic can quickly overwhelm the limited number of Customs officers stationed on Rota.

“When you have a major disaster, like in the case of Rota, and there’s like 10, six, eight aircrafts coming in, or a couple of big vessels coming in, then it could easily overwhelm the capacity of the municipalities to be able to control the situation,” he said.

Despite the post-Bavi challenges, Invasive Species Program coordinator Natashia Tomokane said surveys showed Rota’s existing coconut rhinoceros beetle, or CRB, infestation did not spread to new areas.

Tomokane credited the program’s Rota team, supervised by Mark Manglona, with containing CRB despite widespread storm debris.

Asked whether the infestation had spread, Tomokane said, “No, not at all.”

She said the team removed traps before the typhoon and put them back as soon as the storm passed. Surveys were then conducted to determine whether the temporary gap in trap coverage resulted in CRB spreading elsewhere.

“We’re finding that we were able to isolate the infestation sites,” Tomokane said.

Deleon Guerrero said coordination with the Department of Public Works also helped prevent CRB from spreading through green waste. Debris from infested areas was taken to already contaminated staging areas, while green waste from unaffected areas was kept separate.

“So we don’t facilitate inadvertent spread of those CRBs to other areas that’s not contaminated within that particular island,” he said.

Customs continues to deploy officers to Rota and work with the Invasive Species Program and federal partners. Deleon Guerrero said a canine detection team from Guam had also been deployed, while a CRB detection team and marine biologists were expected to assist with screening.

The Rota response also exposed another gap—Customs does not have dogs trained specifically to detect invasive species.

Deleon Guerrero said detector dogs used by the CNMI Brown Tree Snake Program are under the Department of Lands and Natural Resources’ Division of Fish and Wildlife. The Brown Tree Snake Program is separate from the Invasive Species Program that is being transferred from DLNR to Customs and Biosecurity.

Customs has its own detector dogs, but they are trained to detect drugs.

“That is something that we’re currently pursuing to get funding so that we can integrate them with our Customs and Biosecurity Canine Program,” Deleon Guerrero said.

The developments come as the CNMI transfers the Invasive Species Program from DLNR to the Department of Finance’s Division of Customs and Biosecurity under Executive Order 2026-018.

Division of Customs and Biosecurity director Jose C. Mafnas earlier told Marianas Press that bringing the program under Customs would allow border officers and invasive species specialists to pool manpower, training, and expertise.

Tomokane said details still have to be worked out involving the transfer of assets, inventory, and possible restructuring under Customs.

“We look forward to working together under our new division,” she said.