Country: United States

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

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

Report:

Effective on January 22, 2010, the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) has removed the quarantine area for Mediterranean fruit fly (Medfly) in the Imperial Beach area in San Diego County, California.

 

On August 13, 2009, APHIS-designated portions of the Imperial Beach 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. APHIS has 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 Imperial Beach quarantine area through various population control actions. These actions included applying sterile insect technique, which inundates the area surrounding the detection sites with millions of sterile male Medflies, and foliar spinosad bait sprays near the detection sites. 

 

Removal of the 37-square-mile quarantine area was warranted after sufficient time elapsed without finding additional Medflies in the specified area. Specifically, an enhanced 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 Imperial Beach area in San Diego County on January 22, 2010. 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 the Imperial Beach area of San Diego County, California in the United States.

 

Posted Date: Feb. 1, 2010, 9 a.m.