CNMI livestock export to Guam as early as summer

Hundreds of livestock from the CNMI are expected to be shipped to Guam “as early as this summer” in what Department of Lands and Natural Resources Secretary Arnold I. Palacios described yesterday as a “re-establishment of trade” between the CNMI and Guam. Acting Guam governor Ray S. Tenorio signed the cattle importation bill into law on Thursday, paving the way for the movement of livestock between the two territories.

“This is a small success to build on. It opens up a range of economic opportunities for both the CNMI and Guam,” Palacios told Saipan Tribune yesterday.

Gov. Eloy S. Inos, who teamed up with Guam Gov. Eddie Calvo last year to make the interisland trade become a reality, branded it a “landmark legislation” and is “very pleased” with its enactment into law.

Inos designated Palacios as the lead person on the matter. Palacios said there are already ranchers from the CNMI that are ready to “ship hundreds of livestock in a span of a few months beginning in the summer—July or August.”

“They already have buyers in Guam. There would be others that would follow suit. A lot of the CNMI’s ranchers and farmers, and their counterparts in Guam, are expected to take advantage of this,” he added.

Press secretary Angel Demapan separately said yesterday that since the matter was brought to the table during the Marianas Governors Summit last year, “Gov. Inos and Gov. Calvo quickly teamed up to work on this becoming a reality.”

“Now that the law is in place, the CNMI and Guam will continue working closely to take all the necessary steps to allow ranchers to export or import their cattle,” Demapan said.

Guam Bill 297-32, authored by Guam Speaker Judith T. Won Pat and Sen. Vicente C. Pangelinan, is now Guam Public Law 32-161.

The new law amends Guam’s animal quarantine regulations to, among other things, make the importation of live animals, particularly cattle, less restrictive to import, by allowing the use of a Brucellois card or field test as an alternative to testing in a laboratory.

It also removes the requirement that cattle be free of Anaplasomosis, a cattle disease that is endemic to the whole Marianas but is no longer considered a major concern by the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

After the Marianas Governors’ Summit in September 2013, discussion on interisland trade continued during the first assembly of the Mariana Islands Legislature Association in November. Both events recognized the need to address political, social, and economic issues and concerns, including agriculture and trade relations between the CNMI and Guam.

For over three years, the CNMI Department of Lands and Natural Resources worked with Guam’s Department of Agriculture to propose amendments to phase out entry requirements and conditions that Inos said “are no longer considered essential, are overly restrictive, or are not performing their intended purpose.”