No new Queensland fruit fly outbreaks were declared, and no outbreak area boundaries were extended in the Riverland from 24 October–6 November 2023.
The total number of outbreaks remains at 45 and restrictions remain in place for existing outbreak and suspension areas.
The newly expanded National Sterile Insect Technology (SIT) facility at Port Augusta has reached its full production capacity of 40 million sterile fruit flies each week.
Department of Primary Industries and Regions (PIRSA) uses these sterile fruit flies to reduce the number of wild fruit flies in the Riverland outbreak areas.
The SIT facility reached its new capacity ahead of schedule due to a boost in egg production.
Each week these 40 million SIT pupae are transported to a sister facility in Barmera where they grow into adult sterile flies and are then released by road or by plane in the outbreak areas.
General Manager of the Fruit Fly Response, Paul Dowsett, said that details about the SIT fly aerial release locations are now on the fruit fly website for people wanting to know where the releases are.
'With millions of SIT flies being released in the Riverland, people can now learn which area our sterile friends will be infiltrating,' he said.
He also explained how PIRSA has developed a technique to identify whether it's a sterile fruit fly that you’re seeing in the Riverland, or a wild fruit fly.
'Sterile fruit pupae are coated with a fluorescent dye before they leave the SIT facility,' he said.
'This dye marker actually makes them glow under a blue light, so we know which flies we're capturing in our monitoring traps.'
The release location changes every 6 weeks, and you can see the sterile insect technology current locations.
From 6 November until 17 December SIT flies will be released at:
- Paringa
- Loxton
- Lyrup
- Kingston on Murray
- Overland Corner.
PIRSA staff are continuing to visit properties to inspect yards, apply organic bait, check for signs of fruit fly in fruit, and provide residents with information about what they need to do.
Growers and residents are urged to search their address on the interactive fruit fly map to understand the restrictions in place within the 1.5 km red outbreak and 15 km yellow suspension areas.
To learn more about reducing the risk of outbreaks, visit fruitfly.sa.gov.au/outbreak-restrictions for details.
