News

Thousands of fruit fly traps arrive in Mildura

Tue, 15 Sep 2015 08:24:00

The Mildura Rural City Council depot is a hive of activity in preparation for the mass distribution of more than 17, 000 fruit fly trap kits in Mildura and Wentworth areas later this month.

The Greater Sunraysia Pest Free Area Committee (GSPFAC) is currently carrying out the biggest Queensland Fruit Fly trapping exercise ever undertaken in Australia.
It aims to saturate urban areas with traps for male and female Queensland Fruit Fly (QFF) in a campaign to reduce the pest’s numbers and the damage it causes to horticultural industries.
The GSPFA chief executive officer John Tesoriero said Mildura’s disability service provider The Christie Centre was on board to assemble the kits ready for distribution to households in Mildura and Wentworth.
“Our aim is to have the non-invasive traps in every residential garden in the urban areas, so it’s a huge task, but the Christie Centre teams are making fantastic progress in putting the kits together ready for distribution,” Mr Tesoriero said.
“To give an idea of the scale of the operation, the supplier of one of the traps, BARMAC had to use a semi-trailer to deliver the traps into Mildura last week,” he said.
“We’re now in the phase of putting the kits together to go out to households – that is two traps, instructions for installation and contact information for anyone who needs more help or has questions,” he said.
Mr Tesoriero said although the task was a huge undertaking, the committee was confident the campaign would be an effective strike against the region’s fruit fly pest problem.
“Logistically, it’s enormous, but we know from the Swan Hill experience that strong community cooperation can achieve really remarkable results in reducing fruit fly numbers,” he said.
“We are looking forward to the community really getting behind this effort and for everyone being prepared to make a small effort to bring about a really big result for horticultural industries and our region.”
Community groups are being engaged to distribute the traps to households from late September, with the committee receiving more than 50 expressions of interest from groups wanting to use the opportunity as a fundraising exercise.