Two further male Queensland fruit fly have been found in Northcote this week, bringing the total to 6.
Head of Biosecurity New Zealand Roger Smith said the latest finds will mean an expansion of the controoled area zone in Northcote and associated restrictions on the movement of fruit, vegetables and green waste. The zone now extends south to the bottom of the Northcote Point.
The MPI teams on the ground will be removing fallen fruit from backyards, inspecting compost bins and placing bait on fruit trees to attract and kill adult flies, in particular females.
“There have been no further finds of Queensland fruit fly in Devonport since the only find there on February 14. However, because of the proximity to Northcote, MPI is continuing with movement controls and trapping there for the time being. We will reconsider next Friday whether this needs to continue further.
No further Facialis fruit fly have been found in Ōtara. Biosecurity New Zealand will review movement controls there at the end of next week.
Detailed maps of the controlled areas and a full description of the boundaries, and full information about the rules are available at biosecurity.govt.nz/fruitfly.
Controlled Areas have been issued for all 3 suburbs, to restrict the movement of certain fruit and vegetables out of the Controlled Area to help prevent the spread of any fruit flies if any are present.
In addition an Export Restriction Zone (ERZ) has been put in place in Northcote, and Otara. Any fruitfly host material (includes persimmons) needs to be pest prrofed while transiting these areas, if it is to remain eligible for export to countries which list the particular fruit fly species as a quarantine pest. Unfortunetly from the South, it is not possble to drive around the Otara ERZ.It is noted that 15km ERZ’s are in place for exports to China. ERZ’s will take longer to remove if no more fruit flies are found – persimmon exporters should be planning how to comply with the transport retsrictions for the coming season