(Photo provided by Megan Dewdney, UF/IFAS)
Effective immediately, the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) is adding eight sections in Charlotte County, nine sections in Lee County, 28 sections in Hendry County, and five sections in Collier County to the citrus black spot (CBS) quarantine area in Florida.
This action is in response to the confirmation of CBS during annual surveys conducted by APHIS and the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services, Division of Plant Industry (DPI). The quarantine is updated annually at the completion of the residential and grove surveys for CBS. The expansion marks the first time that CBS has been detected on a residential property since the disease was found in Florida in 2010.
APHIS is applying safeguarding measures and restrictions on the interstate movement or entry into foreign trade of regulated articles from the quarantine. Regulated articles from quarantine areas are subject to all interstate movement conditions outlined in a federal order that APHIS issued on March 16, 2012. The requirements of the federal order are parallel to DPI’s state-interior quarantine.
A list of the current CBS quarantine areas, federal orders and APHIS-approved packinghouse procedures may be found here.
In 2010, CBS was first identified in Florida’s Collier and Hendry counties. Symptoms of CBS are most evident on mature fruit and typically remain latent on leaves with little to no symptom development until after the leaves die.
Fresh citrus fruit that is moved interstate from the CBS quarantine areas must be packed in commercial citrus packinghouses operating under a compliance agreement with APHIS, and the fruit must be processed using APHIS-approved methods. Citrus plant parts other than fresh fruit are prohibited from movement outside the quarantine area.
For additional information regarding the CBS Program, contact Citrus Health Response Program National Coordinator Angela McMellen-Brannigan at 301-851-2314.