Pest program flies

Nov 29, 2022

Working together: Goulburn Murray Valley Fruit Fly Area Wide Management Program co-ordinator Ross Abberfield, NSW chief plant protection officer Satendra Kumar and National Fruit Fly Council manager Stuart Burgess at a symposium in Sydney in November.

The Goulburn Murray Valley Fruit Fly Area Wide Management Program shared its success with fruit fly experts from across the world at the recent International Symposium on Fruit Flies of Economic Importance in Sydney.

Hold tight - we’re checking permissions before loading more content

Program co-ordinator Ross Abberfield said the event was a unique opportunity for the world’s best to network, share research and discuss strategies on the best ways to minimise the economic impact of the pest.

“Of particular interest to the audience was the level of awareness, education and engagement achieved by the program among the community, industry and government across the region,” Mr Abberfield said.

“We have been able to take a whole-of-community approach to help reduce the spread of fruit fly with a huge team of volunteers assisting with the primary schools’ education program, supplying bulk fruit fly netting and distributing information packs at community events — all of which allows us to get the No Flies On Us message out there and protect our region from the pest.

“The co-ordinated approach to the management of the pest includes involvement from local government, with councils in the region removing and replacing fruit fly host trees on nature strips, in reserves and parks, which eliminates potential breeding grounds.”

Partner councils, including Greater Shepparton, Moira and Campaspe, also distribute information packs to the community to help raise community awareness.

The program has resulted in the removal of more than 104,000 unmanaged host trees.

“Industry has also been successful in removing unproductive host fruit trees, installing on-farm trapping grids and donating produce to promote fruit fly awareness,” Mr Abberfield said.

“It’s all these different elements combined that has allowed us to protect our region against the impact of fruit fly through area-wide management of the pest.

“Those who attended the symposium are experts in their field ... this event provided a unique and valuable opportunity to share research and discuss different strategies to minimise the impact of fruit fly.”