(2) General cargo; for incidental contamination with significant 

 plant pests. 



(3) Baggage. 



(4) Means of conveyance: ships, planes, raotor vehicles, rail- 

 way cars. 



(5) Mail parcels. 



Plant pest movement largely parallels the movement of people it 

 follows that an increase in foreign travel is significant in the risk 

 of pest dissemination. Division interception records bear out this 

 relationship. In Fiscal Year 1959, which was a record year for 

 foreign travel, over 25, 000 lots of destructive plant pests were in- 

 tercepted at ports of entry. In other words, an important plant pest 

 was stopped at our shores, borders, airports, or in the mails on an 

 average of once every 20 minutes during the year. This was an in- 

 crease of 39 percent over the previous year and a new record. To 

 name only a few of the more familiar pests: the khaprabeetle was 

 intercepted 43 times; the Mediterranean fruit fly, 87; the olive fly, 

 43; the golden nematode, 75; citrus canker, 82; the West Indian fruit 

 fly, 98; and black spot of citrus was taken 211 times. 



Since World War II, air traffic requiring inspection has increased 

 nearly 700 percent, ocean traffic more than 100 percent, and ve- 

 hicular traffic across the Mexican Border 500 percent. 



Some Highlights of the Year 



The recent opening of the St. Lawrence Seaw^ay has added w^ell over 

 2, 000 miles to our "seacoast" and made it possible for foreign ship- 

 ping, and thus foreign pests, to come directly into the Great Lakes 

 ports. This could include significant pests of major crops in the 

 region, such as the durra stem borer (corn and related plants), 

 golden nematode (potatoes), and the khapra beetle (stored grains 

 and grain products). Prior to the opening of the Seaway, extensive 

 surveys were made as to the character of the new traffic to be ex- 

 pected, likely ports of call, readiness of ports to handle ships and 

 their cargoes, and the need for additional inspection personnel and 

 facilities. These surveys and associated operations planning in- 

 cluded conferences with Canadian plant quarantine officials and 

 agreements on exchanging information of mutual interest. 



Traffic from Mexico has been increasing on an average of a million 

 vehicles a year and last year reached an all-time high of more than 

 21 million. Many of these were tourist cars returning to homes all 



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