ISSUE 11 - AUGUST 2015

A WORD FROM THE NBCN MANAGERThis latest newsletter will be largely focussed on the Auckland Fruit Fly response in Mt Albert, which has seen over 1200 people utilised. Most of our AsureQuality (AQ) biosecurity team have been used in various roles and from our own NBCN, 70% of the people used have come from the network.

To update everyone, a single male fruit fly was caught in an MPI surveillance trap in the Grey Lynn area of Auckland in February this year and a small isolated population of the fly was found nearby.

MPI initiated a response with AQ taking action on the ground from a field headquarters set up in nearby Mt Albert. To date, 14 Fruit Fly have been discovered with many more larvae and pupae too. The last ‘find’ was on 13th of March, so while this is good news, the operation is not over and will continue over the winter months. Fruit flies are not active in the cooler months, so while we expect that our controls have been successful, we can’t be sure until the spring when any flies that may remain become active again. The response is expected to continue until later this year.

While our NBCN (BRS) management and team have been fully committed to the response, we have continued with building and strengthening the network. While the NRT training was postponed in it’s larger form in March, smaller satellite training covering expert roles have continued separately at FHQ. This has been ideal for people who have not been involved in this response to have a look at this ‘first hand’. The main NRT training will now be planned for November and you will receive further information on this from Keryn Baker over the next few months.

Both Peter Stratford and I would like to welcome Julie Hoyle, who has joined the AsureQuality Biosecurity team as the Preparedness and Response Programme Coordinator. Julie brings a wealth of experience to our team and I personally look forward to working alongside her.

Finally on behalf of Andrea Murray, Peter and myself, I would once again like to thank you for your ongoing support for the NBCN, your patience over the last few months and also those who have worked on the response, your professionalism, comment and input has been most appreciated.

Andrew Sander Andrea Murray Peter Stratford Manager, NBCN Biosecurity Manager Preparedness & Response Manager Ministry for Primary Industries AsureQuality AsureQuality

NEWSLETTER

Winter ActivityFruit flies are not active in the winter months, so while MPI expects the controls have been successful, we can’t be sure until spring when any flies still present would become active again.

The Ministry is now moving to a winter programme of activities. Trapping will continue over the cooler months and the restrictions on the movement of fruit and vegetables will remain in force. Baiting will cease over winter but may need to restart in spring, depending on results of trapping.

• Full information about the fruit fly operation winter activities

AUCKLAND 2015Queensland Fruit Fly In February this year a single male fruit fly was caught in an MPI surveillance trap in the Grey Lynn area of Auckland and a small isolated population of the fly was found nearby.

MPI is taking action to eradicate this small Queensland fruit fly population and is confident of success as effective response options were mobilised quickly and no new adult fruit flies have been detected since early March. We have valued the support of our response partners (AsureQuality and Auckland Council), Government Industry Agreement partners (KVH and PipfruitNZ) and the local community.

A Controlled Area was put in place with restrictions on the movement of fresh fruit and vegetables outside of this area. These movement restrictions remain in force.

A small number of properties with infestations of the fruit fly were treated with insecticide sprays and ground treatments.

All fruiting trees within the Controlled Area had bait applied to attract and kill adult fruit flies.

• Read more about MPI’s baiting and treatment programme

In addition to the treatment, MPI established an extensive network of traps to locate any further flies. Laboratory staff chopped and analysed some three tonnes of fruit checking for the presence of fruit fly larvae.

The last adult fruit fly found in the area was on 6 March 2015. The last infested property was detected on 13 March.

“To find these fruit flies in their different life stages our cutters slice fruit into 3mm slivers, it’s a precise business,” says Edwin Massey, MPI Plant and Environment Response Manager.

“We have 551 amnesty bins in the A zone that are cleared daily and 642 throughout the B zone and high risk sites with secure waste disposal being a big part of our business.”

FactsAs at 1st May:• 8,700 properties visited• 30,000 litres of bait used• 430 traps in the A zone checked daily• 186 traps in the B zone checked every three days• 28,954 trap inspections made• 155,934 kg fruit collected from the controlled area• 4,400kg of fruit was analysed for the presence of fruit fly • 938 sample vials were submitted for analysis• 65,000 man hours = 1 FTE for 30 years• 1,205 different people used in the response• 25 organisations involved

- AsureQuality: 178 people - Regional Councils (7) provided 284 people, including 197 from

Auckland Council - Kiwifruit Vine Health: 84 staff from 9 different pack houses - Plant and Food Research: 69 people - New Zealand Biosecurity Services: 57 people (plus some vehicles) - Forestry Industry: 21 people - Plus many other organisations that made a major contribution to

staff numbers

“DID YOU KNOW?”• MPI is currently responding or managing over 40 incursions.

(with input from AsureQuality and members of the NBCN in some of those)

• Our border dogs ‘sniffed’ over 5 million pieces of traveller’s luggage per year!

• 7400 surveillance traps are set every year and checked!

• 71% of mechanised exports came from the primary sector!

• About 90,000 vehicles and machinery are searched by our border patrols per year!

If you or your company is interested in becoming a member of the NBCN please contact us.

National Biosecurity Capability Network0508 00 11 22

biosecurity@asurequality.com www.asurequality.co.nz/nbcn