Country: United States

Title: Ceratitis capitata (Mediterranean Fruit Fly) - Removal of Quarantine Area in the La Mesa area of San Diego County, California.

Contact:
John Stewart, National Fruit Fly Policy Manager, at 919-855-7426.

Report:

Effective October 29, 2015, the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) has removed the La Mesa area of San Diego County California from the Mediterranean fruit fly (medfly) quarantine area. As a result, California does not have any medfly quarantines.

On July 30, 2015, APHIS implemented the medfly quarantine in the city of La Mesa, San Diego County, California. The quarantine restricted the interstate movement of regulated articles from that area to prevent the spread of medfly to noninfested areas of the United States. Since then, APHIS has cooperated with the California Department of Food and Agriculture and the San Diego County Agriculture Commissioner’s office to eradicate the transient medfly population through various control actions, including high density trapping, fruit removal, sterile insect technique, regulatory quarantine measures, and foliar bait sprays near the detection sites.

Eradication was concluded after three lifecycles passed without finding additional Mediterranean fruit flies in this area. Accordingly, APHIS removed the interstate medfly quarantine in La Mesa on October 29, 2015. This removal of 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/ff-quarantine

Under IPPC standards, Ceratitis capitata is considered to be a pest that is absent: eradicated from California and the United States.
 

Posted Date: Dec. 10, 2015, 9 a.m.