NATIONAL Fruit Fly Council representatives visited Swan Hill this week to examine how the region is dealing with its Queensland Fruit Fly problem, ahead of this weekend’s fresh new roll-out of the local baiting trap program.
Tomorrow volunteers from community groups around the district will again start distributing fruit fly baiting traps to 6000 households across the municipality, covering an area roughly from Tooleybuc to Kangaroo Lake.
It will be the fourth roll-out of the program — an initiative of the Greater Sunraysia Pest Free Area (GSPFA), through which community groups receive $2 for every trapping package they distribute, since it commenced in June last year.
The traps, which attract and kill male fruit flies through emanating the scent of female fruit flies, are intended to be distributed approximately every three months to achieve the best outcomes.
Representatives from the National Fruit Fly Council visited Swan Hill on Tuesday to assess how local fruit growers were coping with the fruit fly problem.
The council’s national manager, Darryl Barbour, said the baiting trap program was a “shining light” when it came to community/grower co-operation in relation to fruit fly management.
For more on this story, grab a copy of Friday’s Guardian (July 29).
