County Calls Quarantine--Oriental Fruit Flies

The largest Oriental fruit fly infestation ever in Orange County led state agricultural officials to declare a quarantine Thursday limiting shipments of fruits and vegetables in an 81-square-mile area centered in Santa Ana.

After 10 of the flies were trapped last week in Santa Ana, an eradication program began in a 20-square-mile area within the quarantine zone. It will continue for another eight weeks, agricultural officials said.

The largest previous discovery of live fruit flies was in 1980, when five were found in the Yorba Linda and Fullerton areas.

“We have a major problem,” said Gera Curry, spokeswoman for the state Department of Food and Agriculture. “We are being hit very, very heavily.”

County agricultural officials said that the quarantine will have almost no effect on produce shoppers at local markets but that nurseries, farms and roadside stands within the zone may be asked to destroy some fruit or take other protective measures.

Agricultural officials in Sacramento said they do not believe this infestation poses nearly as big a threat to California’s $14-billion-dollar-a-year agricultural industry as the Mediterranean fruit fly infestation in Northern California did in 1980-82.

During that time, the state spent $100 million on eradication efforts against the Medfly.

“We learned a great deal from the Medfly,” Curry said. “We have a much better early warning system, and we jump in quickly now and don’t let it get out of hand.”

After an Oriental fruit fly was trapped July 8 in a fruit tree in the backyard of an Anaheim home, agricultural officials put out 50 extra traps baited with a sticky substance and a lure in the surrounding square mile.

From Sept. 23 to Tuesday, 10 more flies were trapped in persimmon, orange and fig trees at nearby homes in Santa Ana, prompting the eradication and quarantine moves by state officials.

None of the flies was trapped on a commercial farm or nursery, according to Wayne Appel, deputy agricultural commissioner for Orange County.

Appel said the fly is a threat to 236 fruit, nut and vegetable crops that account for almost $40 million of the county’s $254 million annual agricultural production.

“These flies are so destructive,” Appel said. The female fly punctures the fruit skin and can lay up to 100 eggs inside. The hatching maggots destroy the crop.

An eradication program against Oriental fruit flies in nine square miles in Laguna Beach started early this summer after three flies were found there. It ends this week.

Curry said Southern California has been particularly hard hit this summer by the Oriental fruit fly and the Medfly. Eradication and quarantine programs are in place against the Oriental fruit fly in Hawaiian Gardens, Long Beach and Montebello, as well as Santa Ana. There are Medfly eradication and quarantine programs in Maywood, Huntington Park and East Los Angeles, she said.

“This is kind of unfortunate,” she said. “We are being hard hit and at the same time.”

Most of the flies, she said, came from illegal shipments of fruits from overseas, primarily Hawaii.

“We have to have public cooperation on this,” she said. “Don’t send in illegal packages. Don’t bring in contraband fruit.”

State and federal statutes bar importing fruits and nuts from Hawaii--with the exception of pineapples and bananas--unless the produce has been cleared by agricultural officials. In 1986, postal workers in Costa Mesa intercepted several fruit packages illegally shipped from Hawaii and found more than 170 live Oriental fruit flies in them.

“What we are really concerned about is Japan, Korea and Mexico putting a quarantine on California or the United States because they won’t accept any of our crops,” he said.

Under the eradication program in Santa Ana, a paste containing methyl eugenol as bait and a commercial pesticide, Dibrom, is squirted by hand high on tree trunks and power poles--about 600 four-inch blobs per square mile.

The bait lures male flies to the paste, where they become trapped. The pesticide kills them, reducing the number of male flies available to reproduce.

The poison, like molasses in consistency, looks black when sprayed on wood and poses no threat to humans or pets, Appel said. The poison gradually turns pinkish gray and loses its effectiveness after two weeks.

Appel said expanded trapping will continue another three months--the equivalent of three generations of the flies.

Curry said the state quarantine prohibits produce shipments out of the area unless they have been inspected and approved by county agricultural officials.

“For commercial fruit there’s no problem, since it’s been treated by pesticides all along,” she said. “We’re worried about home-grown and organic farmers.”

Nurseries and farmers in the quarantine zone may be asked to destroy some fruit or to spray their crops with pesticides, Appel said. Fruit stands may be required to cover their produce with screens while on display.