Buying S.P from the states - beware AQIS

[stonecold]

Just a short note to give Ausfish members the heads up on buying S.P from the states. I'm not sure if AQIS have some new guidelines or been given a tip off on this one.
I love bass fishing and I love making my own bits to catch them with. I often find lures or jigs in the states that I can't get from my local tackle shop or by mail order in Australia. I recently purchased some jigs and skirts online from a store in the states. While looking at their range I found some 7 inch berkly gulp jerkshad which looked good for snapper. Not having seen these in Oz I grabbed a couple of packs.

Heres the thing....I now have in my hot little hands a letter from AQIS stating.......

"Your mail did not meet Australian quaranteen requirements", they contain other biologicals and are being help pending further investigation.

After sapeaking with Dagmar, yes thats his name and yes he was very difficult to understand... he also knows bugger all about fishing. It seems I have to produce a manufacturers MSD for the products before they can release them, of get an import permit!

The real problem is that there are 2 packets of Gulps in the package and given their claims and the liquid in the packets I can understand they would be a concern to AQIS. However upon opening the package Dagmar finds that only 1 item has any discription of whats contained in the lures. So until I can provce whats in my envisin jigs and Bass stalkers they are all being held.

The long and the short of it is I really want my toys but it seems that the process will take all the gloss off the whole show. The order cost me $100 Au and although not a heap of money it still stings a little given that I have 2 dozen packets of gulps in my tackle box (all of which were purchased locally).

[David_P]

Could they irradiate them for you?

[stonecold]

Probably could however its all at a cost. Part of my business deals with importing bioilogical (soils) samples from O/S. Costs me a significant amount per shipment and the samples must land at an AQIS approved Lab facility for processing. For a couple of packets of gulps and a hundred bucks worth of bits and pieces its not worth it.

If I can save someone else the hasle then something has been salvaged

[Captain_Starli]

get in touch with the manufacturer/berkely & ask them to fax you the required MSD.

[stonecold]

Already done and awaiting a reply.

As very few of the other items in the parcel had a discriptions as to what they were made from I now have to do the same for the other 12 items with varying manufacturers. Thats going to take quite a while

[Captain_Starli]

the truth is with the amount of people importing their own SPs these days, you would think someone has brought these particular items in before & any efficient business would have it on file....

conspiracy theory, the berkely people are have someone on the inside at AQIS to make it difficult to import the berkely product, so they can keep on being greedy & getting all our money mmmwwwwwuuuuhahahahahahaha ::)

[stonecold]

;D ;D ;D You know....thats what I thought

[Duyz72]

Sorry to hear about the hold up there, but you do have to hand it to AQIS, they are doing their job well by the looks - Well done lads.

[Adamy]

I do recall some else had the same problem a few months ago... they received the msd from the manufacturer - sent it off and there was no problem... yours may be a bit more complicated due to other manufacturers tho - BUT it may well be worth it to do a search on these boards and find out if they were the same make (I do recall they were gulps - or similar) anyway the person may still have the MSD - and that may save you a load of time.

Good luck with it!! and let us know how you go.

Adam

[stonecold]

Well heres the result,

Didnt get any response from Landbigfish.com where I purchased the goods, spose they got there money and dont really give a toss.

My email to Berkley in the states is as follows

"Hi Guys,

Got a problem I hoping you can help me with. I recently purchased quite a few packets of Berkley Gulp saltwater Jerk Shads in both 5" and 7" over the net from www.landbigfish.com.
After waiting patiently for the package to arrive downunder instead of my lures I receive a letter from AQIS (Australian Quaranteen and Inspection Service) stating that my package doesnt meet Australian Quaranteen requirements.

AQIS request that I supply a manufacturers declaration stating that the product is 100% synthetic or mineral in nature;
or
the product is not derived from animals, plants of micro-organisms

If the product does contain plants or animals an import permit is required.

As I can purchase these same products at my local tackle shop I assume that the documentation to satisfy AQIS already exists.

Hope you can help.

Regards m"

The Berkley response

Regarding your question on the safety of our baits (i.e. will they likely introduce any exotic pests or diseases), although our Gulp! baits do contain organic flavorants, the manufacturing of Gulp! involves such high temperatures that it is highly unlikely any disease organisms would survive. Moreover, the baits are preserved with a respectable level of food grade preservatives to prevent bacterial or fungal spoilage. Accelerated aging tests on the final products have confirmed no spoilage of the bait within three years, again indicating that no bacteria or fungi survive the manufacturing/preservation process.

I should add that we have and continue to develop Gulp! by feeding it to live fish held in captivity. Given the fact that the fish are maintained in closed-circuit filtration systems, any exotic disease organisms introduced through the product would be expected to rapidly amplify and infect the fish since they have no escape. However, despite the fact that our Gulp! research has been ongoing for several years, to date we have never observed any test fish succumbing to a novel bacterial, fungal, viral, or parasitic disease introduced via the bait.

While I understand your desire to find Gulp! products through various sources, I would be remiss not to note that both Berkley Gulp! and Power Bait products are sold by retailers throughout Australia. In the future you might find it easier to simply buy the baits there.

Thanks for your interest. Good fishing.

Doesnt really answer the question so my reply, straight to the point,

Nissa thanks for the time you have taken to answer my AQIS problem. I do buy many gulp products from the Australian importers however I am yet to find any 7" jerk shads in Australia and the colours I have purchased in the 5" jerk shads are apparently no longer available here.

Are MSD's available for the gulp products so I can clear these items from customs?

Regards M.

And Berkley's response.........

"No, there is not. This is considered proprietary info."


I figured at that stage my $140 worth of goodies were goooorne! However I just got off the phone to my new mate at AQIS and he tells me he can release all but the "BERKLEY" lures, they have an appointment with the furnace. >:(

[imnotoriginal]

I know this might be a little late....but they had 7" jerk shads at the mart at kawana when I tried a week or so ago. Not sure where you are, but thought that you'd want to know anyway.
Joel

[stonecold]

Thanks Joel, Nth NSW is where I am. I havnt seen any in my travels, including MO tackle in Coffs. It was s'pose to be easier to order them over the net and just wait for them to turn up in the mail. ::)

Cheers Mark

[backhoe]

Been through the same thing myself. Berkley were no help. I didn't even get a reply. All the products I ordered were not available in Australia which is why I ordered them from the US. OGot them from Cabelas who refunded the money and were a pleasure to deal with. Very obliging. Got to say AQIS were OK to deal with too. All up probably cost me about $80 in freight for the whole deal so was an expensive lesson but could have been worse.

[PinHead]

I did not think Berkley would be of any assistance as they want you to buy from their local distributor.

[el_carpo]

The company you purchased them from ought to give you your money back like Cabelas did for backhoe. Try contacting them again. If they had just answered you in the first place, they probably could have had their product sent back to them from AQIS and you could have got a refund and everyone would have been happy.

I hope they do the right thing and refund you your money. If not, lesson learned -- for them too! Treating their customers poorly (not responding >:() will lose them customers.

The more I think about it, the more I think you are OWED your money back. If their product can't be shipped to Australia, it should say so. They should know. I once ordered an item that couldn't be shipped to my state from another and they sent my money back and said "can't ship."

Good luck.

[stonecold]

Still no answer from Landbigfish.com yep everyone got that, Landbigfish.com.
Heard from Berkley again this morning telling me that I could by the Jerk shads from huge W, the other mart and Big Camp and Fish store. Great...the huge W stocks are minimal...and the other 2 outlets are 2hrs drive away. If I order the stock from my local store it takes a week or two for it to get here which is OK, matter of act I'm still waiting on a shimano snapper spin 762 I ordered from my local store on the 10th of October. With the global economy we can order tackle from pretty much anywhere and provided it meets quaranteen restrictions can have the goods within 10-14 days. I was ordering other bits and peices which are unavailable and I thought at the time I'll stock up on the gulps.
Its not really an AQIS issue and its not really a Berkley issue. I think its firstly my responsability to know what I can and cannot get into the country, however I also feel that the website owners have a responsability to the buyers to remind them that in times when we are drooling over new "toys" that some things we may not be able to import due to quaranteen issues.

Cheers Mark