Pest interceptions up 300 p.c.

Press, 10 January 1981, Page 9

Pest interceptions up 300 p.c.

i PA Wellington There has been a big increase in the number of insects and peits intercepted at ports and air- ■ ports. ' Figures released by the ■J Ministry of Agriculture show that interceptions by i departmental officers of insects, mites, and other creatures have more than tripled in recent years. In 1973 there were i 270 interceptions. By 1978, rhe I most recent year for . which figures have been released, the number had risen to over 40u0. “The increase in these i figures is probably a result of the increasing number of aircraft arriving with a conseo.uent increase in the amount of infested produce,” says the report, which lists the interceptions in the period.

“While many of the interceptions are of limited economic significance, many others are important pests, both in the wider tield of agriculture, and for the general public,” says the author of the report, Mr J. B. Keall, of the Ministry’s plant health and diagnostic station at Levin.

The report lists a number of important insect pests which were recorded tor the first time during the period. These include:

— The South American fruit fly. which was intercepted ’in grapefruit from Peru. It is a serious citrus pest in South America; — The grape leafhopper, a serious grape pest in the United States, was intercepted on grapes from California;

— Two species of weevil known to be serious legume pests in Europe

and the United States had been intercepted on pomegranates and carnations;

— The oriental fruit fly. was found on a consignment of litchi fruit from Hawaii: and

— The beetle Trogoderna variabile, an Asian stored products pest which attacks a wide range o ' foodstuffs, grain, and seed, had also been intercepted.

A number of other important pes’s had got past rhe interceptors, however, and were found for the first time in New Zealand in the 1973-78 period. They included a pea aphid which attacks lucerne and other legumes; the oriental fruit moth, a serious pest of deciduous fruits; and the tropical army worm, which attacks a wide variety of vege-

tables, clover, broadleaf weeds, and cotton. The records showed the large range ’of ' exotic species intercepted at New Zealand ports every year, said a foreword to the report by Dr A. F. Rainbow, officer in charge of the Levin plant health station. “It is virtually impossible to measure in monetary terms the economic benefit of a quarantine service but it is sobering to realise that without it all these specie., would have unrestricted ' access to New Zealand.” he said. “Undoubtedly many of them would then become established and some, such as the Mediterannean and Queensland fruit flies, would have a serious effect on New Zealand’s fruit production and our ability to export to overseas markets.”