Quarantine controls have been officially declared in force in Mildura today, following the outbreak of Queensland fruit fly in the town several days ago.
All fruit moving within a 15km-radius exclusion zone around the detection site will be required to be treated or secured, a Victorian Department of Primary Industries (DPI) official has told Fruitnet.com.
“We’ve declared an outbreak area under our legislature effective today, and all fruit moved in that area needs to be accompanied by a certificate that will certify whether it’s been treated, or if that fruit is contained in a secure manner,” said Gary D’Arcy, DPI’s senior officer for fruit fly policy.
“From that 15km zone, all exports are suspended under area freedom arrangements, and fruit will need to be treated, with the specific treatment depending on the destination market.”
It has emerged that the initial fruit fly detection was made on Thursday or Friday last week, when a female fruit fly was picked up in a trap in Mildura’s Cureton Avenue.
“It was a gravid female fly, that is one that is fertile and ready to lay eggs,” explained Mr D’Arcy. “To verify that takes a little bit of time. It’s just the one fly that’s been detected.”
While the grape industry is likely to be the hardest hit by the outbreak, with exports to the US and New Zealand in particular feeling the pressure from treatment requirements, the tail end of the citrus export industry is also expected to find problems.
The export suspension period will cover citrus exports to the US, meaning all fruit will require treatment.
Mildura’s fruit fly freedom status could at the earliest be regained in 28 days – one full fruit fly generation at current temperatures – for New Zealand and the domestic market excluding Tasmania, meaning the 6 March, said Mr D’Arcy.
The US requires three generations with no detections before declaring area freedom, which in a best-case scenario will be 19 September.
“It’s going to have a significant impact on the industry, so nobody is happy,” Mr D’Arcy told Fruitnet.com.
“This morning we were in a meeting with the table grape and wine grape industries, and we’re meeting with the citrus industry tomorrow. We’ll hopefully come up with arrangements that mean any impact is minimised.”
