News

Fruit fly traps rollout starts in Sunraysia this weekend

Thu, 24 Sep 2015 15:35:00

The biggest fruit fly trapping exercise ever undertaken in Australia is beginning this weekend in Sunraysia with householders urged to play their part in getting on top of the costly pest.

The large numbers of fruit fly outbreaks that have occurred in the region in the past two years have come at significant cost to fruit industries in add-on treatment costs and market access difficulties.
The Greater Sunraysia Pest Free Area Committee has overseen the preparation of 17,700 fruit fly kits, and is now appealing to every household in the region to play their part in the success of the eradication campaign.
“We aim to have these traps hanging in every residential garden in urban areas in Mildura, Irymple, Red Cliffs, Merbein, Nichols Point, Buronga, Gol Gol and Dareton, “ said GSPFA chair Paul Grigg.
“The traps lure in the fruit fly and directly impact on the numbers of the pests in the urban environment – but they also reduce the opportunities for breeding, which is where we believe we can make a really big impact.”
The Greater Sunraysia Pest Free Area includes the horticultural areas from Mildura and Wentworth to Kerang.  The Pest Free Area Committee collects and administers levies applied to citrus, stone fruit and table grapes to fund services aimed at reinstating and maintaining the Pest Free Area.
GSPFA CEO John Tesoriero said the current trapping operation is a huge logistical exercise.
“We engaged teams from the Christie Centre to put together the kits and they have done a magnificent job in turning around 17,700 kits in less than two weeks,” Mr Tesoriero said.
“To get enough people on board to do the legwork of distributing the traps to households, we offered community-groups the chance to use the exercise as a fundraiser. 
“There was huge interest and we have groups from 19 organisations who will be knocking on people’s doors from this weekend,” Mr Tesoriero said.
“It’s a huge task, but we know from a trial and program in Swan Hill that strong community cooperation can achieve impressive results in reducing fruit fly numbers.”
Mr Tesoriero said it would be critical to the success of the program that householders were willing to be part of the solution to what is a community problem.
“Many of our towns and urban areas in the Pest Free Area now have micro climates that are conducive to the flies’ breeding and survival,” he said.
“We are getting reports from gardeners and householders that they are observing fruit fly now, so we are confident we have the timing right in hitting the fruit flies from now on.
“We would encourage people, when they get their traps over the next two weeks, to hang them in their garden as soon as possible, so that we give ourselves the best chance of having maximum impact.”
The Sunraysia rollout is in collaboration with the Mildura Rural City Council, the Wentworth Shire Council and the Swan Hill Rural City Council and funded by the Victorian Government.
Anyone who does not receive a trap by October 7 is encouraged to pick up a trap at Mildura Landfill or Buronga Landfill after that date.
Residents who have questions or wish to report a fruit fly incursion should contact the GSPFAIDC on email: idc@greatersunraysiapfa.com.au.