by Jolene Toves

Guam - Senator Chris Duenas has called for a roundtable meeting tomorrow to discuss the Department of Agriculture's rules and regulations relative to the proposed new invasive species fee regulation. "The fee is actually the set up and funding of the work of the invasive species council through the Department of Agriculture it sets up a division in Department of Agriculture called Bio-Security Division, they are the ones who implement all the mitigation and eradication of invasive species we currently do not have a group or a task force that is in place, once we identify an invasive species, to go out and do the field work and get rid of that invasive species," he explained.

Duenas says the fee proposal would be an additional $44 per container coming into the Port Authority of Guam which is expected to generate $1.8 million annually to fund the Bio-Security Division. He hopes to get an update as to the holdup with the implementation. Scheduled to attend are representatives from Department of Agriculture, Guam Customs, the Port Authority, and the Chamber of Commerce.

The roundtable is set for nine o'clock tomorrow morning in the Legislature's Public Hearing Room.