The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) and state agriculture officials recently updated fruit fly quarantines in California and Texas.
CALIFORNIA: ORIENTAL FRUIT FLY (OFF)
On March 23, APHIS and the California Department of Food and Agriculture (CDFA) removed the OFF quarantine in Riverside and San Bernardino counties, designated the Jurupa Valley quarantine. This action released 131 square miles from quarantine. Release from quarantine occurred after three generations had elapsed since the date of the last OFF detection, based on a degree-day model.
APHIS restricted the interstate movement of regulated articles from this area to prevent the spread of OFF to non-infested areas of the United States. APHIS worked cooperatively with CDFA and the Riverside and San Bernardino County Agricultural Commissioners to eradicate this transient OFF population through various control actions per program protocols.
TEXAS: MEXICAN FRUIT FLY (MEXFLY)
On March 19, APHIS and the Texas Department of Agriculture (TDA) established a Mexfly quarantine in Zapata, Zapata County, designated the Zapata quarantine.
APHIS and TDA established the Zapata quarantine in response to the detection on March 11 of a wild mated female Mexfly from a trap in a sweet orange tree on a residential property in Zapata. The quarantine encompasses approximately 55 square miles and contains no commercial agriculture.
APHIS is applying safeguarding measures and restrictions on the interstate movement of regulated articles to prevent the spread of Mexfly to non-infested areas of the United States, as well as to prevent the entry of these fruit flies into foreign trade. APHIS is working with TDA to eradicate the transient Mexfly populations by following program guidelines for survey, treatment and regulatory actions.
The APHIS Exotic Fruit Flies website contains a description of all current federal fruit fly quarantine areas.
Source: USDA APHIS
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