Country: United States

Title: Mediterranean fruit fly (Ceratitis capitata) - Removal of quarantine area in the Escondido area of San Diego County, California

Contact:
Wayne Burnett, APHIS Exotic Fruit Fly Director, Fruit Fly Exclusion and Detection Programs, at (301) 734-4387

Report: Effective August 17, 2010, the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) has removed the quarantine area for Mediterranean fruit fly (Medfly) in the Escondido area of San Diego County, California.

On September 30, 2009, APHIS designated approximately 77-square miles of the Escondido area of San Diego County as a fruit fly quarantine area due to the detection of Medfly. Following additional detections of Medfly in the Escondido area on November 19, 2009, APHIS expanded the quarantine area by 37 square miles, for a total of approximately 114 square miles. APHIS applied restrictions on the interstate movement of regulated articles from that area to prevent the spread of Medfly to non-infested areas of the United States. APHIS worked cooperatively with the California Department of Food and Agriculture and the San Diego County Agricultural Commissioner’s office to eradicate the transient Medfly population from the Escondido quarantine area through various population control activities. These activities included releasing sterile male Medflies in the area surrounding the detection sites, and the application of foliar spinosad bait sprays near the detection sites.

An intensified fruit fly trap surveillance system was deployed in the area and monitored for three life cycles calculated through a modeling process specific for Medfly, and no additional fruit flies were detected. As a result, APHIS removed the 114-square-mile Escondido area of San Diego County from the list of Medfly quarantine areas on August 17, 2010. The removal of this quarantine area is reflected on the APHIS website. To see the current list of Federal fruit fly quarantine areas, please copy and paste the following link into your Web browser:

http://www.aphis.usda.gov/plant_health/plant_pest_info/fruit_flies/index.shtml  

APHIS anticipates following this action with the publication of a notice in the Federal Register informing the public of this change to fruit fly quarantine areas.

Under IPPC standards, Ceratitis capitata is considered to be a pest that is absent: eradicated from the Escondido area of San Diego County, California in the United States.
 

Posted Date: Aug. 23, 2010, 9 a.m.