Trans-Tasman dispute over fruit fly now settled

Press, 11 May 1989, Page 19

Trans-Tasman dispute over fruit fly now settled

NZPA Sydney A long-running transTasman dispute over fruit fly has been settled, according to Australian quarantine officials, after the death of some maggots in New Zealand. In the latest flare-up, New Zealand banned imports of Australian cucurbit vegetables on April 27, after alleging that fruit-fly eggs were found in a consignment of 85 cartons of rock melons from South Australia.

The Australian Quarantine and Inspection Service denied that the eggs came from fruit fly, because that pest injects its eggs inside fruit and vegetables rather than laying them on the surface, as in the case of the rock melons. South Australia is also designated as a fruit-fly-free state. Larvae or maggots hatched from the eggs were to be raised and identified by entomologists on both sides of the Tasman, but they died — so their identity remains a mystery.

A.Q.I.S. officials declined to suggest publicly any subterfuge was involved, but one source within the Department of

the Primary Industry said the dead maggots were “convenient for New Zealand authorities” on realising their mistake. The head of the A.Q.I.S. plant section, Mr Mick Catley, said MAFQuaI told him yesterday about the larvae dying. “We discussed the situation and they did indicate that trade would be restored from Thursday with the signing of an agreement between the two organisations,” Mr Catley said.

“Had it been demonstrated that there were fruit fly on the consignment from South Australia, I think that New Zealand would probably have had reservations about signing this agreement.

“Originally, when they detected what they thought was fruit fly, they said it was up to Australia to investigate and restore confidence. Of course, we maintain there is no reason to doubt our system because we don’t believe it was fruit fly,” Mr Catley said. The agreement, already signed by the Australian side, sets out conditions for certification of exports from areas where fruit fly

occurs and separate conditions for produce from fruit-fly-free areas. New Zealand has banned imports of cucurbits — such as melons, pumpkins and cucumbers — from Queensland since October when dead fruitfly larvae were found in four different consignments from that state. The Minister of Agriculture, Mr Moyle, said at the time that it would be a disaster for New Zealand horticulture if fruit fly was introduced to the country.

Quarantine officials have been negotiating since October, to resolve their differences over quarantine standards. A.Q.I.S. has alerted Australian exporters to resume shipping of cucurbits from today, allowing Queensland producers to take advantage of its substantial winter trade in New Zealand.

Mr Catley said the recent suspension imposed by New Zealand over the South Australian rock melons cast into doubt A.Q.I.S.’s ability to perform. “That is the real concern to us, because we firmly believe they were not fruit fly,” he said.

“With the insects dying, there is still that question in abeyance.” Mr Catley said A.Q.I.S. had pressed MAFQuaI to have some of the larvae sent to Australia for identification last week. “But the New Zealand entomologists were concerned about their safety if they were transported across the Tasrnan,” he said.

“They said ‘we’ll keep growing them until Monday and then send them.’ Then, of course, they died.” Mr Catley said that normally there were not too many difficulties rearing fruit fly or other insects, given the right conditions.

A.Q.I.S. originally thought the eggs might have belonged to the metallic-green tomato fly, which is found on overripe or decaying fruit, but Mr Catley said he was not sure and now “nobody will ever know.”

Asked why the eggs — found on melons in three of four sampled cartons — were not detected in Australia, he said the eggs might have been laid after inspection, or even in New Zealand.