The Ministry for Primary Industries is working to keep a tight leash on the nation's borders by stopping cruise ship passengers attempting to bring unwanted produce and items into Tauranga City.

Today MPI officials undertook routine security clearance checks on the 2009 passengers disembarking the Dawn Princess for the day with the help of one of the ministry's 30 national dog squads.

MPI detective dog handler Liz Moore and biosecurity beagle Watchman at the Port of Tauranga. Photo: Tracy Hardy.

Ministry of Primary Industries quarantine inspector Alison Comrie and dog handler detective Liz Moore with Watchman.

The cruise ship arrived in Tauranga from Auckland at 6.15am and will spend the day here before departing for Napier at 6pm.

Between 7 and 9am MPI detective dog handler Liz Moore and biosecurity beagle Watchman walked among passengers sniffing out any quarantine risks, including fresh fruit and vegetables, plant material and live animals.

During the clearance checks just three passengers were detected carrying undeclared food items including apples, oranges and eggs – a relatively small and unexciting haul compared to other ports.

'The funniest thing I have seen is some turtle eggs that came picked straight from the beach in Thailand packed in a sushi container and still had sand on them,” says Liz.

She says cruise ship staff and the MPI are constantly broadcasting the message to cruise ship passengers, but more often than not it is non-English speaking passengers who do not know the rules.

And Watchman's cute passenger appeal does not go unnoticed.

'They [passengers] absolutely love him and it's quite a sense of enjoyment in my job having people happy with what I'm doing.”

MPI's decision to bring Liz and Watchman down from Auckland for the inspection is a result of a risk analysis by the Ministry's Integrated Targeting and Operations Centre, which analysed the ship as posing a high risk for unwanted goods.

MPI team leader Janine Mayes says ITOC is a profiling and risk assessment tool which uses information on different ports from both MPI and Customs to decide which vessels need inspecting.

'This vessel is a high risk because it picked up passengers in Auckland and this is the first stop since, so we are trying to get the message across, as opposed to people who have been onboard for more stops,” says Janine.

Janine says MPI is making a concerted effort to perform more routine checks outside of Auckland and Christchurch.

This 2013/14 cruise ship season a total of 80 cruise ships will dock in Tauranga. Instead of performing one check per season, MPI officials are now performing checks every fortnight with plans to increase dog handling squads from 30 to 40 by mid-2014.

Janine says implementing a dog handler and dog is more efficient and effective in checking passengers as they disembark the cruise ship.

'Having a dog in this area [cordoned off exit way] is great and if there is going to be anything he will find it rather than us having to open and sort through all the bags,” says Janine.

'It's a much more positive experience to meet the cute beagle rather than Trevor at the top of the gangway.”