Here is what New Zealand's biofouling enforcement actually looked like in its most recent complete season: 44 cruise vessels assessed, one required cleaning. That's the number worth holding onto.
The figure
In 2024-25, Biosecurity New Zealand assessed 44 vessels and just one needed cleaning. The agency's Paul Hallett put it plainly: "No cruise ships were stopped from entering our waters during 2024/25 and the vast majority of vessels were highly compliant." This is the figure the live 2036 material uses, and it uses it correctly.
The trend behind it
One season isn't a trend on its own — but placed in sequence, the direction is clear:
| Season | What actually happened | |---|---| | 2022-23 | 11 notices of direction — 3 cleaned before arrival, 8 got itinerary restrictions. None turned around. | | 2023-24 | 4 non-compliant of 54 expected — 1 didn't enter, 3 cleaned at the border | | 2024-25 | 44 assessed, 1 required cleaning |
The system is bedding in, and operators are increasingly arriving clean. The widely-repeated line that "eleven ships were turned around" was never accurate, and the compliance picture has only improved since.
Why the rule exists at all
About 90% of New Zealand's exotic marine species are thought to have arrived via biofouling, so the standard has a genuine job to do. And New Zealand's approach is distinctive: it checks whether the hull is clean — numeric fouling thresholds on arrival, with a cruise-specific clause — where Australia and California check whether you hold a management plan. That's why enforcement events show up in New Zealand and rarely elsewhere. It isn't hostility; it's an outcome-based test rather than a paperwork one.
The honest caveat
Don't oversell a single season. MPI's most recent published season summary still dates to April 2025, and the 2025-26 figures aren't out yet — we'll update this when they are. The compliance story is genuinely good, and the fair way to tell it is to let the numbers carry it, not to stretch one season into a permanent claim. The full biofouling analysis sets out exactly what the standard requires, and flags every place the public record still has a hole.