Exotic fruit flies
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February 3, 2024
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Recently, there was an article in the IJ about Governor Newsom proposing to spend $22 million for fruit fly control. The number of exotic fruit flies (such as the Mediterranean, Mexican, and Oriental fruit flies) has grown from approximately 65 to over 900 in the past year. These flies cause great damage to California commercial crops like blueberries, grapes, melons, peaches, pomegranates, and strawberries. There are seven quarantine areas in 15 counties of California.
Fortunately, they have not been discovered in Marin County. The County of Marin and the California Department of Food and Agriculture carry out insect trapping in Marin. We should be on the lookout for exotic fruit flies. They are as close as Santa Clara County.
One caveat: It isn't easy to distinguish an exotic fruit fly from an ordinary kitchen fruit fly.
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Katie Martin