Effective immediately, the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) is establishing three new quarantine areas and expanding two existing quarantine areas for citrus canker in Cameron County, Texas, to prevent the spread of the disease.
This action is necessary because APHIS confirmed the positive identification of citrus canker in citrus trees from residential areas in the Los Fresnos, Bayview and San Jose areas of Cameron County. In addition, APHIS is expanding the quarantine area in the San Benito and Rancho Viejo areas of Cameron County, after additional trees were confirmed positive for citrus canker during routine surveys. The Texas Department of Agriculture has established an intrastate quarantine area for citrus canker that parallels the federal citrus canker regulatory requirements specified in 7 Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) 301.75.
Under the current citrus canker quarantine regulations, the interstate movement of citrus plants and plant parts other than commercially packed and disinfected citrus fruit remains prohibited. Citrus nursery stock that is moved in accordance with regulations contained in 7 CFR 301.75-6 may move from areas quarantined for citrus canker.
The establishment of this quarantine area can be found at http://www.aphis.usda.gov/plant-health/citrus-canker, which also contains a description of all the current federal citrus canker quarantine areas.
In late August, APHIS removed a portion of Harris County within the Braeswood area of Houston, Texas, from citrus canker regulations. Learn more about that action here.
For additional information regarding the citrus canker program, contact Shailaja Rabindran, director of specialty crops and cotton pests, at Shailaja.rabindran@usda.gov or (301) 851-2167.
Source: Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service
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