A new Queensland fruit fly outbreak has been declared called Chaffey B, and three outbreak area boundaries were extended in the Riverland from 6–19 June 2023.
Restrictions remain in place in existing outbreak and suspension areas and the Department of Primary Industries and Regions (PIRSA) staff are continuing to visit all properties to inspect yards, apply organic bait and provide residents with information about what they need to do.
PIRSA Incident Controller of the Fruit Fly Emergency Response, Rob Baker said while we have had a new outbreak, detections have steadily declined during autumn and now coming into winter.
"While fruit fly activity has declined over the past month, we can still find fruit flies and larvae in winter fruits like pomegranate, quince, apples and various citrus," said Mr Baker.
"The Riverland has a window right now to prepare for a fight against fruit flies when they re-emerge on warmer winter days and in spring.
"Prune your fruit trees so you can easily pick fruit when it is in season and thin branches to reduce excess fruit growing. If you live in a red outbreak area, you can’t share fresh fruit from your property so only grow what you need.
"PIRSA will continue to protect residential and commercial properties by applying bait, deploying traps and monitoring potential fruit fly activity. Please support field staff by allowing them to quickly access your yard.
"These simple actions will help to kill fruit fly that emerge in winter and reduce opportunities for them to successfully breed."
Riverland Fruit Fly Committee chair and local grower Jason Size said your actions in winter can have a great impact on how many fruit flies are around in spring.
"Eradicating fruit fly from the Riverland is going to take time and getting rid of fruit flies in winter will greatly reduce fly numbers in spring and summer," said Mr Size.
"Nobody wants to be the reason their neighbour’s orchard or vineyard is struggling to trade or incurs extra costs and restrictions, and everybody wants to get back to sharing their fresh home-grown fruit.
"Please contact the PIRSA Fruit Fly Hotline or visit the fruit fly website to see what else you can do on your property to help eradicate fruit fly."
New outbreak areas include:
- Chaffey B
- 5 fruit flies in a monitoring trap discovered within a 14 day period
- declared 14 June 2023
New extensions to existing outbreak areas include:
- Winkie C
- Renmark West
- Renmark
Outbreak area boundary extensions also affect yellow suspension area boundaries. Search your address on the interactive outbreak map to see how fruit and vegetable movement restrictions affect you, depending where you live, travel, work or go to school.
The end date for all outbreaks is 23 December 2023, however this may change if further fruit flies are detected.
If you're feeling overwhelmed and don't know where to start, contact a Family and Business (FaB) mentor. It is free informal, confidential and independent conversation with a local Riverland mentor – by phone or in person.
Call a Riverland FaB directly: Robyn Cain 0411 633 085; John Chase 0419 848 672; Brent Fletcher 0439 409 430.
For more information about the fruit fly, self-baiting or for the most up to date outbreak advice, go to fruitfly.sa.gov.au or call the Fruit Fly Hotline 1300 666 010.
