Country: United States

Title: Mediterranean fruit fly(Ceratitis capitata) -Removal of Quarantined Area in the Spring Valley area of San Diego County, California - United States

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

Report: The Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) has removed the quarantine area for Medfly in Spring Valley area of San Diego County, California, effective August 24, 2009.

On November 26, 2008, APHIS designated portions of the El Cajon area of San Diego County as a fruit fly quarantine area for Medfly and 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. Subsequent to its establishment, the quarantine area was expanded twice, first on December 22, 2008, and then again on February 19, 2009, to include greater portions of San Diego County including the Spring Valley area. Subsequent to the expansion, the quarantine area was reduced to include only the Spring Valley area on July 28, 2009. Since that time, APHIS has worked cooperatively with the California Department of Food and Agriculture and the San Diego County Agricultural Commissioner to eradicate the transient Medfly population from the Spring Valley quarantine area through various population control actions, including the application of sterile insect technique by inundating the area surrounding the detection sites with millions of sterile male Medflies and the application of foliar spinosad bait sprays near the detection sites.

Removal of the 93-square mile quarantine area was warranted after sufficient time passed without finding additional Medfly in the specified area. Specifically, an intensified fruit fly trap surveillance system was deployed and monitored for three life cycles, calculated through a modeling process specific for Medfly. Accordingly, the Medfly quarantine was lifted from the Spring Valley area in San Diego County on August 24, 2009. This change to the quarantine area is reflected on the following designated website, which contains a description of all the current Federal fruit fly quarantine areas:

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

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

Posted Date: Aug. 28, 2009, 9 a.m.