Malathion Spraying Program Comes to a Close : Medfly: The 14th and final scheduled treatment is completed. Officials plan to check traps to make sure none of the insects survived. The quarantine may be lifted by late July.

It ended just as it began: a trio of pesticide-laden helicopters departing from Camarillo Airport to the jeers and catcalls of about 25 anti-malathion spraying protesters.

The 14th and final aerial spraying of the pesticide in the war against the crop-destroying Mediterranean fruit fly was launched Tuesday, signaling the end of a dramatic chapter in Ventura County’s agricultural history.

“We’re glad to be done with this part of the operation,” said Larry Hawkins, a spokesman for the state and federal Cooperative Medfly Project. “Now we must cross our fingers and hope that no additional fertile insects are found.”

Hawkins said that starting today, agricultural officials will carefully monitor a network of more than 2,500 traps in the 86-square-mile Medfly quarantine zone to make sure that none of the pesky, tiny insects survived the aerial assaults that began in October.

If no additional flies are found in the traps after an additional fly’s life cycle--approximately two months’ time--agriculture officials say they will lift the quarantine.

The infestation and resulting quarantine have severely limited the way fruit and vegetables can be handled and transported and have cost local farming interests an estimated $50 million, according to W. Earl McPhail, Ventura County agricultural commissioner.

“We’re obviously very pleased to have finally reached this point,” McPhail said. “Assuming we don’t encounter any snags, we should be able to lift the quarantine by late July.”

But while agriculture officials said they were relieved to halt the aerial spraying operation because of its “intrusiveness” into the lives of those people living in the 16-square-mile spray zone, those opposed to the pesticide spraying have vowed to fight on against its use.

“We’re relieved that they are going to stop the flights,” said Terri Gaishin, chairwoman of the Group Against Spraying People, or GASP. “But we still believe that spraying malathion represents a threat to public safety and we remain committed to seeing its use in this fashion stopped.”

Before the helicopters departed the airport Tuesday at 8:53 p.m., GASP members protested the operation by chanting slogans and waiving placards.

The protesters also offered members of the Cooperative Medfly staff a slice of “toxic cake”--a white-frosted edible confection that came complete with a black skull-and-crossbones emblazoned across the top.

“We’re saying, ‘Hit the road, Jack,’ ” Gaishin said. “It’s just too bad that the interests of agribusiness have won out over the health concerns of the citizens.”

Agriculture officials, however, have steadfastly maintained that the aerial spraying of malathion in such low amounts poses little if any threat to the public’s safety.

Camarillo city officials on Tuesday also expressed relief that the aerial spray operations were completed.

“A lot of people in this town have had their lives inconvenienced by this program,” said Camarillo Mayor Michael Morgan, who lives in the spray zone. “I think everyone’s glad that things will be returning to normal.”

The decision last month to add three additional sprayings to the aerial spray schedule and the indefinite date as to when the quarantine would end were the result of the unseasonably cool weather that the county has experienced recently.

The cooler the weather, the longer the insect’s life will last since its metabolic rate is slowed, said Hawkins of the Cooperative Medfly Project.

“Alternatively, the warmer the weather, the faster the thing dies,” Hawkins said. “That’s why we’re hoping it’s going to warm up around here.”

So far, a total of 66 fertile Medflies have been found in the traps that have been arrayed around the quarantine zone. The last fly was discovered Nov. 21.