Country: United States

Title:

Ceratitis capitata (Mediterranean Fruit Fly): APHIS Expands Quarantine in Alameda and Santa Clara Counties, California

Contact:
Richard Johnson, Fruit Fly National Policy Manager, at (301) 851-2109 or richard.n.johnson@usda.gov and Avraham Eitam, Assistant National Policy Manager, at (614) 205-4565 or avraham.eitam@usda.gov

Report:

On October 17, 2024, and again on October 23, the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) and the California Department of Food and Agriculture (CDFA) expanded the Mediterranean fruit fly (Ceratitis capitata; Medfly) quarantine in Alameda and Santa Clara Counties, California. The expansions are in response to the confirmed detections between October 7 -15 of 22 wild female Medflies, 14 of them mated, and 12 wild male Medflies, from traps in trees in residential areas.

APHIS and CDFA established the quarantine on September 6, following the detection of a mated wild female Medfly in the city of Fremont in Alameda County on August 28, from a trap in an orange tree in a residential area, and expanded the quarantine on September 11, following the detections of additional flies. As the result of the latest detections this quarantine area increased by 38 square miles to 121 square miles. There are 54 acres of commercial agriculture, including wine grape, olive, avocado, tomato, pepper and eggplant, in the quarantine area.

APHIS is applying safeguarding measures and restrictions on the interstate movement of regulated articles to prevent the spread of Medfly to non-infested areas of the United States, as well as to prevent the entry of these fruit flies into foreign trade. APHIS is working with CDFA and the Agricultural Commissioners of Alameda and Santa Clara Counties to respond to these detections following program guidelines for survey, treatment, and regulatory actions.

The APHIS exotic fruit flies website contains a description of the new quarantine area, as well as all current Federal fruit fly quarantine areas. APHIS will publish a notice of these changes in the Federal Register.

Under IPPC standards, Ceratitis capitata is a transient pest under eradication that is present only in one area in California. These species are not widely distributed and are under official control in the United States.

Posted Date: Oct. 30, 2024, 1:34 p.m.