Biosecurity alert - fruit fly update

Media release from MPI 12.30pm 6th March 2019

A fourth male Queensland fruit fly has been found in Northcote and another Facialis fruit fly has been found in Ōtara.

 The Northcote find is approximately 80 metres inside the current Zone A and no further restrictions on the movement of fruit and vegetables are required in the suburb.

 “Our extensive surveillance programme is continuing including trapping, visual inspection of backyard gardens and fruit trees, and collection and laboratory examination of fallen fruit,” says Biosecurity New Zealand spokesperson Dr Catherine Duthie.

 “To date we have cut and examined around 300kg of fruit in our mobile laboratory, which was gathered from Zone A backyards on the North Shore and almost 500kg in Otara. We have yet to find any fruit fly larvae.”

 The Ōtara find is 630 metres to the north of the last find inside the current Zone B. Another Zone A will be established in Ōtara, which will mean restrictions on a different area. The current Zone B is unchanged.

We strongly urge people living in Ōtara to check if they are living in either zone or what this means for them. We will be working closely with the local community to get this information out to people.

Similar controls on the movement of export fruit to those put in place in Northcote will be established in Ōtara. We are working with our horticulture industry partners and expect this to have little, if any, practical impact on fruit exports.

The instructions for residents inside the Northcote Controlled Areas remain the same.

There have been no further finds of Queensland fruit fly in Devonport since the only find there on February 14, 2019.

“Given the proximity of Devonport to Northcote we will reconsider next week whether we need to continue with movement controls in Devonport,” says Dr Duthie.

"We are very grateful for the support all communities affected by the fruit fly detections have given us.”

Detailed maps of the controlled areas and a full description of the boundaries, and full information about the rules are at biosecurity.govt.nz/fruitfly.

Background and current situation

 Single male Queensland fruit flies have been found in separate surveillance traps in the Auckland North Shore suburbs of Devonport (one single fly) and Northcote (4 single flies).   Queensland fruit flies

The Queensland fruit fly has been detected before in the upper North Island in the past decade. Biosecurity New Zealand's staff are well practised in dealing with this situation. Since the fruit fly was found, we've been working to locate any other possible fruit flies.

Three single male Facialis fruit flies have been found in separate surveillance traps in Ōtara. Facialis fruit flies

To manage the fruit flies that have been found, Controlled Area Notices (CAN) have been issued for all 3 suburbs. This restricts 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.

You can download detailed maps of the controlled areas and a full description of the boundaries. Full information about the rules are at biosecurity.govt.nz/fruitfly.

More information on Controlled Area Notices

Newsletter update to NZPPI members 19 February

TIMELINE: FRUIT FLIES FOUND IN AUCKLAND 2019

February 14 - Single male Queensland fruit fly located in Devonport, on the North Shore.
February 18 - A different type of fruit fly, a male facialis, discovered in Ōtara, south Auckland.
February 20 - Another single male Queensland fruit fly found on the North Shore, this time in Northcote.
February 21 - A second single male facialis detected in Ōtara, only 70 metres from the first find.
February 25 - Another single Queensland fruit fly found in Northcote.
February 28 – A third single male Queensland fruit fly detected in Northcote, 270 metres from where the last was found.
March 4 – A fourth male Queensland fruit fly detected in Northcote, approximately 80 metres from where the last was found.
March 5 - A third single male facialis detected in Ōtara, 630 metres to the North of the last fin

Queensland fruit fly

Facialis fruit fly