New Fruit Fly Find Expands Poison Zones

Discovery of another Oriental fruit fly--this one in the Lynwood area--has prompted agricultural officials to expand poison-bait fly eradication zones in Los Angeles County to a total of 34 square miles.

County Agricultural Commissioner Paul B. Engler said Friday that new baiting operations will begin today in a nine-square-mile area surrounding the trap in which the latest find was made on Wednesday.

Engler said the fly discovered in Lynwood probably came from an infestation in the Long Beach area, where 55 flies have been found since Sept. 9.

A 13-square-mile eradication zone and a surrounding 90-square-mile quarantine zone were established last month around the discovery areas in Long Beach in an attempt to prevent a spread of the infestation, which poses a serious threat to California’s multimillion-dollar citrus crops.

“But those flies are strong flyers,” Engler said, adding that the 10 miles between the Long Beach and Lynwood finds is within the pest’s range.

A third eradication zone covering 12 square miles was established in the Glendale area, after three flies were trapped there on Sept. 23. Although the state has authorized an 81-square-mile quarantine zone in Glendale, Engler said he has postponed any enforcement of it, because of a lack of subsequent finds there.

Engler said the Glendale and Long Beach finds are probably too far apart--about 25 miles--for any fly to have made the trip unaided. Officials said such infestations usually begin when contaminated fruit is brought into the area.