9 Fruit Flies Found; Quarantine Imposed

The discovery of eight Oriental fruit flies in Hawaiian Gardens and another in Garden Grove has prompted a fruit and vegetable quarantine for an 81-square-mile area in Los Angeles and Orange counties, agricultural officials said Tuesday.

Although the problem with the crop-destroying flies occurs almost every year, the number of insects found in Hawaiian Gardens caused Los Angeles County Agricultural Commissioner Paul Engler to say, “We’ve got a real battle on our hands this time.”

The quarantine, imposed by both federal and state authorities, is expected to officially go into effect by the end of the week. It will restrict the movement of 236 varieties of fruits, vegetables and nuts.

Commercial fruit may be shipped out of the quarantine area only if it has been treated and approved by county agricultural inspectors, said Gera Curry, spokeswoman for the state Department of Food and Agriculture. Treatment consists of spraying a crop before harvest or fumigating it or placing it in storage upon being harvested.

Nursery Owners

Los Angeles County Chief Deputy Agricultural Commissioner William Edwards, however, said nursery owners in the quarantine zone will be asked to destroy their soft fruits and vegetables, such as tomatoes, plums and apricots.

Curry said the fight to keep the fly from getting a foothold in California usually comes in the summer, when the pest arrives with tourists coming from Hawaii or in fruit sent by mail.

This is the largest infestation of Oriental fruit flies so far this year, according to Los Angeles county officials. The flies are a threat because they burrow under the skin of fruit or vegetables and lay eggs. The hatching maggots destroy the crop.

Special poison bait and extra sex-lure traps were set over the weekend in a nine-square-mile area after eight male Oriental fruit flies were trapped at four locations within two blocks in Hawaiian Gardens, Curry said. The ninth, a female, was caught in the Orange County city of Garden Grove last Wednesday.

Eradication Efforts

Similar eradication efforts have been under way in Laguna Beach and South Laguna since the discovery of three Oriental fruit flies in late May, Curry said. No quarantine is in effect there, however.

The quarantine, which state officials are imposing by simply revising the parameters of a similar quarantine still in effect from last year, affects all territory within a 4 1/2-mile radius of Hawaiian Gardens.

The quarantined area is bordered by Alondra and La Mirada boulevards on the north; Ocean Boulevard, Livingstone Drive, 2nd Street and Westminster Avenue to the south; Cherry Avenue to the west, and Beach Boulevard to the east.

The traps contain methyl eugenol, which has a smell similar to that emitted by female flies.