New Zealand’s Ministry for Primary Industries (MPI)is a step closer to eradicating Queensland Fruit Fly (Q-fly) from a control zone set up around the Auckland suburb of Grey Lynn.
The government department has relaxed the fruit and vegetable movement controls for some households within the fruit fly zone, stating that it is confident about the exact location of the Q-fly population.
“Because we are so certain about the location of the infestation, we can now safely reduce the size of the higher risk A Zone,” said Steve Gilbert. MPI’s acting chief operations officer. “This means some properties are far enough away from the population that they no longer need to adhere to the toughest fruit and vegetable controls.”
It has been almost two months since any new sign of Q-fly has been found in Auckland. MPI’s field operations will be scaled back over winter, however, Gilbert said the Grey Lynn area will continue to be closely monitored.
“This is good news, but it doesn’t mean the job is done,” explained Gilbert. “Fruit flies are not active in cooler weather, so while we expect that our controls have been successful, we won’t know for sure until spring when any flies still present would become active again.”
