Sea transport is the most common mode of transport used to import and export goods to and from New Zealand. We also have deep and sustained national interests in the Pacific and Southern Oceans. We may once have regarded our geographic isolation as providing protection from maritime security threats, but we must remember that, once upon a time, our tīpuna and ancestors navigated across the oceans searching for our new lands and found the islands we now call home. Increased activities by transnational organised crime networks, which smuggle people and goods, including illicit drugs and arms, by sea, has the potential to threaten our community's health and wellbeing. Wildlife trafficking is one of the largest illicit economies in the world. Aotearoa has experienced considerable trafficking of our taonga native reptiles. While New Zealand does not have the same experience of human trafficking by sea as some countries, it is a serious and persistent risk that we need to respond to, especially given the significant global rise in human trafficking and the increasingly connected world we live in.