Dear HouseholderAs you may be aware your property is in a fruit fly eradication outbreak area.

Below is some background on why this eradication program is so important to our State, and also some frequently asked questions. We would like to hear from you if you have any questions or concerns, so please contact our Fruit Fly Hotline on 1300 666 010.

Fruit fly is one of the most destructive fruit pests and can destroy fruit and vegetables in commercial crops and home gardens. A female fruit fly can lay eggs in cultivated fruits and some vegetables, citrus (oranges, lemons, grapefruit and cumquats), pome fruits (apples, pears and quinces), stone fruits (cherries, apricots, peaches, nectarines and plums), loquats, figs, feijoas, tropical fruits (bananas, mangoes), tomatoes, capsicums, chillies, eggplant and tamarillo.

South Australia remains the only Australian mainland state that is fruit fly free and this status has significant benefits to our State:

• It protects the commercial production of fruit, vegetables, wine grapes and almonds in South Australia, particularly in the Riverland and Murraylands. In 2016-17 the estimated farm-gate value of the state’s horticulture produce vulnerable to fruit fly infestation was $1.25 billion.

• Being fruit fly free secures access to lucrative export markets such as, the USA, Japan, China, South Korea and New Zealand worth approximately $105m in 2016-17.

• It makes it easier for South Australians to grow fruit and vegetables at home with less use of pesticides.

If fruit fly were to become established in SA, home gardeners would be unable to produce edible fruit and fruiting vegetables, even with regular use of insecticides.

How is a fruit fly outbreak declared?

A fruit fly outbreak is declared when fruit fly or larvae is confirmed on or near your property.

The detection of fruit fly may be through infested fruit or through the presence of flies detected in the Biosecurity SA grid of surveillance traps.

Once an outbreak has been declared a 1.5 kilometre quarantine area will be established around the outbreak and an eradication program will commence.

What will happen during the eradication program?

Baiting teams will apply an organically certified fruit fly bait to suitable foilage throughout the quarantine area, while hygiene teams will scour the area looking for any fruit that may contain larvae. Both aspects of the program have already commenced with some areas already receiving multiple visits.

The teams are clearly evident in their orange overalls, but each individual also carries an identification card.

Following the completion of the bait spotting program, Biosecurity SA may release sterile fruit flies, if required, in the outbreak area through Sterile Insect Technology (SIT). This will assist in eradicating any remaining wild flies.

YOU ARE IN A QUARANTINE AND ERADICATION AREA

FRUIT FLY OUTBREAK

As a resident living in the quarantine area, how can you help to get rid of fruit fly from your area?

• Six to eight weeks after bait-spotting begins, if required, sterile flies may be released. The bait spotting program must first dramatically reduce the number of wild flies present in the outbreak area for sterile flies to be effective.• Sterile flies are usually released from a calibrated ground unit on the back of a vehicle which slowly drives around the outbreak area. • Sterile fruit flies mate with ‘wild’ fruit flies and any subsequent eggs laid are infertile, eradicating the wild fly population.• This aspect of the eradication program can take up to 12 weeks and there is no need to access backyards during the sterile fly release program.

The combination of bait spotting and sterile insect technology are currently the world’s best practice for the eradication of fruit flies.

NO HOME GROWN FRESH FRUIT CAN BE MOVED OUT OF THE OUTBREAK AREA

You must not remove home grown fruit, fruiting vegetables or garden waste from your property. This also includes NOT putting this fruit into lunch boxes for work or school if consumption is going to occur outside the quarantine area.

Please place unwanted fruit and vegetable waste in green bins as usual, as a system is in place for the green waste during fruit fly outbreaks such as this.

• Providing easy access to your front and back gardens so Biosecurity SA staff can complete their work quickly.• Do not leave home grown fruit and fruiting vegetables lying on the ground.• Do not compost any fruit or fruiting vegetables, including those bought from a shop during the quarantine period.• Do report any maggots found in fruit or fruiting vegetables including those bought from a shop during the quarantine period.• Do report any maggots found in fruit or fruiting vegetables immediately. Place in a plastic bag and contact the Fruit Fly Hotline (1300 666 010) to arrange collection. • Do collect fallen/over-ripe fruit and fruiting vegetables, seal them and place in your green bin. Do not put them in compost.

You can cook or preserve excess home grown fruit and fruiting vegetables and such items are allowed to be removed from the quarantine area.

The length of a quarantine period varies between outbreaks as it is determined by the number of flies detected during a specified time period which is set under the National Code of Practice.

We realise the quarantine restrictions and eradication program will cause some inconvenience but your co-operation will assist greatly in helping to keep South Australia fruit fly free.

At the completion of an eradication program you will be advised by leaflet. Only after this can home grown fruit and vegetables be removed from your property.

Information in this leaflet is available on request in an alternative format or other language for those who need it. Contact PIRSA for further details.

CONTACT US: For further information contact the Fruit Fly Hotline: 1300 666 010 or visit www.pir.sa.gov.au/fruitfly

Sterile fruit fly release You can also help with the response program in the following ways:

How long will the quarantine stay in place?

Bait spotting

Hygiene (fruit collection)

• Our response involves the application of an organic bait to backyards across the outbreak area which is applied as a 40ml dose to vegetation with around 150 spots applied per hectare. This equates to around 12 bait spots per property.

• To be effective the organic bait must be re-applied regularly. If your property is within 200 metres of a detection site the bait must be applied twice every week. In other parts of the outbreak area, the bait is applied once every week.

• The organic bait is applied until we are confident that adult flies have been controlled. This typically takes six to eight weeks depending on the number of detections being made.

• After this time bait application is then suspended while sterile flies are released into the area.

• Biosecurity SA prefers that bait is applied to the backyard of properties within the outbreak area as this is most often where host fruit trees are located. If this isn’t possible, bait is sometimes only applied to the front yard of a property.

• The hygiene response involves the collection of fallen fruit from backyards across the outbreak area along with the collection of ALL (including hanging) fruit from those trees that are on properties where maggots (fruit fly larvae) have been detected.

• Hygiene teams look to make an initial assessment across all properties as soon as possible after an outbreak is declared. After this time, only those properties which contain fruit trees are re-visited. This is done on a weekly rotation.

• Hygiene teams operate independently to bait spotting teams and so it is likely that residents will be visited by both teams each week.