Background

The Mediterranean Fruit Fly Exclusion Program is located on the Armed Forces Reserve Center in Los Alamitos, California. The Mediterranean Fruit Fly Exclusion Program began on July 10, 1996, and is funded for a five year duration. The Mediterranean Fruit Fly Exclusion Program is a cooperative, cost-shared program between the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) and the California Department of Food and Agriculture (CDFA). The cost to fund our program annually is approximately 15 million dollars. The cost to fund the Mediterranean Fruit Fly Exclusion Program is minimal when compared to an eradication program and also serves to prevent quarantines against U.S. growers and industry, thus enhancing global trade efforts. Additionally, no pesticides are utilized in the Mediterranean Fruit Fly Exclusion Program, which aligns our program with environmental stewardship.

The purpose of the Mediterranean Fruit Fly Exclusion Program is to prevent the establishment of Medfly colonization by the continuous release of sterile Medflies into the environment. The Mediterranean Fruit Fly Exclusion Program covers a 2,155 square mile area that includes the Los Angeles basin, and portions of Riverside, San Bernardino, and Orange counties. The number of square miles covered in each county are as follows: Los Angeles (1,188), Orange (392), Riverside (175), and San Bernardino (400).

The Mediterranean Fruit Fly Exclusion Program consists of five major components that operate year round: the sterile release of Medflies at the rate of 125,000 flies per square mile over the 2,155 square miles, trapping for detection of wild Medflies at the rate of five Jackson traps and five McPhail traps per square mile with inspections at weekly intervals, larval survey of Medfly host fruits, fly identification by a trained biosystematist, and data management and review to monitor the quality and effectiveness of the Program. The Mediterranean Fruit Fly Exclusion Program is a proactive approach to the control and eradication of Medflies in the United States.

Sterile Medflies for the Mediterranean Fruit Fly Exclusion Program are supplied by the USDA and CDFA Medfly rearing facilities located in Hawaii and from a sterile Medfly rearing facility located in Guatemala. The Mediterranean Fruit Fly Exclusion Program incubates and emerges over 450 million sterile Medfly pupae per week for aerial release. The density of release is no less than 125,000 sterile Medflies per square mile per week, using twice weekly releases of a minimum of 62,500 sterile flies per square mile. The sterile Medflies are released seven days a week by private aircraft and pilots under contract to the USDA. Releases are made along predetermined flight lines using the Global Positioning System (GPS), a satellite navigation guidance and recording system.

The Mediterranean Fruit Fly Exclusion Program efficaciousness is reviewed annually by the Mediterranean Fruit Fly Science Advisory Panel (MedSAP), which is an international group of scientists with extensive knowledge in Medfly exclusion, detection and eradication methods.

The strategic location of the Los Alamitos Mediterranean Fruit Fly Exclusion Program allows us to respond swiftly and economically to any fruit fly infestation in the southern California area.