KVH alerts New Zealand’s kiwifruit industry to second trap find in Auckland suburbs since start of year
New Zealand-based biosecurity organisation Kiwifruit Vine Health (KVH) says a second fruit fly alert of 2025 has been raised in Auckland – this time in the suburb of Birkdale – following the discovery of a single male oriental fruit fly in a backyard surveillance trap.
The species is the same as the one that was found in Papatoetoe, another area of Auckland, on 3 January.
In response, KVH has initiated another biosecurity operation, but it insisted it was “too early to say” whether the finds were linked.
“Further DNA analysis of the fly will take place over the coming days,” it said in a statement, adding that Biosecurity New Zealand was ramping up trapping and inspections.
These include daily checks within a 200m radius of the original find, as well as checks every three days in a second zone out to 1500m.
“The capture of a single male does not mean we have a breeding population,” KVH continued. “However, while checks are underway for other fruit flies, the community is being asked to help prevent any possible spread.
“As a precautionary measure, legal restrictions will be put in place on the movement of fruit and vegetables out of the area where the fruit fly was found.”
A total of 13 discoveries of different fruit fly in Auckland and Northland have been made since 1996, and according to KVH all were successfully eradicated.
