batch on Christmas Trees from Canada and Vermont.

Department of Agriculture and Fisheries experts have already travelled to tree farms in North America to inspect the trees destined for Bermuda. The trip in late October and early November makes this the second year in a row that inspectors have not fumigated newly arrived shipments but traveled for a pre-inspection.

They were looking for any evidence of Pine Needle Scale a sap sucking bug which if it were imported into Bermuda would cause an ecological disaster. If PNS is found a shipment would have to be destroyed. The costs of such trips are split between the Department and tree importers.