Rota Needs More Port Support After Brown Tree Snake Sightings

After a confirmed brown tree snake sighting on Rota this past Wednesday and a second unconfirmed report on Thursday, officials cite the influx of vessels and inspectors facing heavy workloads and limited staffing at Rota’s ports as critical contributing factors.

Resident Director of Finance and Customs and Bio-Security (CBS) Abby Calvo, shares with MP that her Rota CBS inspectors have been burnt-out, running on a typhoon schedule since the impact of Super Typhoon Sinlaku in mid-April and most recently Super Typhoon Bavi early-July. Due to her department’s experience with heavy port traffic after Sinlaku, Calvo has reached out to Saipan’s CBS for additional manpower and support prior to Bavi’s impact on Rota. Just this past Wednesday, a 10-man team of CBS inspectors from Saipan arrived on Rota to assist, the same day the second snake sighting was reported.

Calvo adds that this forces Rota and now Saipan inspectors to backtrack, expressing her stance that CBS, alongside the Department of Land and Natural Resources’ (DLNR) Division of Fish and Wildlife’s Brown Tree Snake and Rhino Beetle Programs, are the island’s first line of defence against invasive species. Now with heavy port traffic, protecting our borders is even more paramount.

Meanwhile, Rota Mayor Aubry Hocog reassures the community that a meeting has been scheduled with Calvo, the Department of Public Safety (DPS), DLNR-DFW’s Brown Tree Snake Program, and Guam’s CBS, to ensure that all incoming vessels and aircraft are properly inspected even prior to their commute to Rota. Mayor Hocog adds that with the heavy influx of vessels from Guam, it is vital that they get cleared by the Brown Tree Snake task force on Guam before departing. She is currently in communication with local and federal partners to ensure that this incident is not widespread.

“I know we have a lot of things going on right now, with the typhoon relief efforts, but we also have a lot of natural habitats, species and resources that we need to protect," said Mayor Hocog.

If you see any unusual snake-like animal, you are asked to contact the CNMI Brown Tree Snake’s 24/7 hotline at: (670)-28-SNAKE/287-6253.