Riverland fruit fly outbreak grows

The outbreak was declared in Murtho, following the detection of a pregnant female Queensland fruit fly in a monitoring trap by PIRSA.

This comes as much of the region has been under harsh restrictions following the detection of fruit fly on at least 10 different properties.

The detections are "perfectly bad timing" for the industry according to Citrus SA chair Mark Doecke, with picking season already underway.

"If it had happened in February, we would have had an option to bait, monitor and trap and have a path that way," he said.

"But you need 12 weeks to implement that, if we did that now May, June and July is all out which would only benefit your August or later variety fruit which is the last of it.

"It's a real blow for us."

Growers located in the "red centre" of outbreaks cannot move their fruit off property without it being dipped in chemical which impacts export markets according to Mr Doecke.

"That's just what the protocol says, there's really no options," he said.

"One thing we've called for is to have a review of the protocol and update it to the year 2022.

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"For growers outside of the red centre but in the exclusion zone, your fruit has to be cold treated when you export or fumigated, cold stored and dipped for local markets - it's just extra cost to growers.

"It could be $100 to $150 a tonne, that comes off the growers' backs.

"That's a stab in the dark, but the bottom line is this is going to cost us money."

The unprecedented string of outbreaks is a mystery to Mr Doecke, who said he had not seen anything like it in three decades of growing.

"I've never seen a fruit fly in Waikerie and I've been here 30 years," he said.

"It's a new thing to us, and there's been two detections here during these outbreaks.

"We don't know what's changed or what's going on, but we need to get on top of it."

With the majority of detections occurring in backyards rather than commercial orchards, Mr Doecke said it was imperative the industry and the public worked together on stamping out fruit fly.

"We all have to work together as a region to get on top of this thing because everyone loses if it gets endemic in the state," he said.

"You won't be able to grow a tomato or a piece of fruit in your backyard and we'd have to continue to treat.

"We don't want to do that because we our product is clean and green - we don't want cold stored fruit, we don't want chemicals on it.

"We want to maintain our reputation."

Fellow Waikerie citrus grower Anthony Fulwood echoed Mr Doecke's sentiments, he said losing SA's "clean and green" image was a concern among the industry and agreed education was vital moving forward.

"Most people don't know the fruit is stung on the tree, then it drops to the ground and the grub crawls out and pupates in the soil," he said.

"If you leave it to do that then you're just helping along another generation of fruit fly.

"It's an education thing we really need to find a way to get across to the general public and backyard citrus growers.

"With COVID and shipping issues it's been one blow after another - we need to get on top of this."

Heading into winter, Mr Doecke said he hoped the industry would not be hit with any further detections.

"April is the worst month for detections of fruit fly in this state," he said.

"We've just come through that, as we go into winter we'll hopefully get a few months of reprieve.

"Then we can do the spring planning for how we tackle the warmer months."

Fruit Fly Response general manager Nick Secomb said residents and visitors to the outbreak areas needed to be aware of the restriction.

"The success of the fruit fly program relies on community support - please, help to protect the future of SA's Riverland fruit," he said.

"Support the response by following fruit movement restrictions, picking ripe backyard fruit and collecting fruit that has fallen to the ground, correctly disposing of fruit waste, and calling the Fruit Fly Hotline if you suspect fruit fly.

"Fruit and vegetables at risk from fruit fly cannot be moved out of the red outbreak area - they should remain on your property.

"You can move at-risk fruit and vegetables around in a yellow suspension area, but they cannot be taken into a green unaffected area.

"This includes purchased and home grown produce."

PIRSA staff will visit properties in the new 1.5km red outbreak area to apply organic bait and check fruit.

Restrictions are set to ease in the Paringa and Renmark North outbreak areas on December 19.

The Loxton, Loxton North A, B and C, Pike River, Pike River West, Renmark West and Waikerie sites will all be under restrictions until at least December 20, while the Murtho site will be under restrictions until December 22.

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