Country: United States

Title: Ceratitis capitata (Mediterranean fruit fly) - Removal of Quarantine Area in Broward County, Florida

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

Report: Effective June 17, 2011, the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) removed the Pompano Beach area of Broward County, Florida, as a Mediterranean fruit fly (Medfly) quarantine area. As a result, there are no remaining Medfly quarantine areas in Broward County, Florida.

On February 25, 2011, APHIS designated portions of Broward County as fruit fly-quarantine areas restricting the interstate movement of regulated articles from that area in order to prevent the spread of Medfly to noninfested areas of the United States. Since that time, APHIS has worked cooperatively with the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services to eradicate the transient Medfly populations through various control actions, including the application of sterile insect technique by releasing sterile male Medflies in the area surrounding the detection sites and using foliar spinosad bait sprays near the detection sites.

Eradication was concluded after sufficient time passed without finding additional Medflies in those areas. Specifically, an intensified fruit fly trap surveillance system was deployed and monitored for three life cycles and calculated through a modeling process specific for Medfly. Accordingly, APHIS removed the Medfly quarantine in Broward County on June 17, 2011. 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/quarantine.shtml

APHIS anticipates following this action with the publication of a notice in the Federal Register informing the public of this change.

Under IPPC standards, Ceratitis capitata is considered to be a pest that is absent: eradicated from Broward County, Florida in the United States.
 

Posted Date: July 8, 2011, 9 a.m.