Trapping Related to Phytosanitary Status and Trade

Abstract

Trapping of tephritid fruit flies forms the backbone of many activites related to phytosanitary issues and regulation of trade of fresh fruits and vegetables between countries. Detection of incipient fruit fly populations can occur through a number of means, such as visual surveys, fruit cutting (to reveal the presence of eggs and larvae), collection and holding of fruits to determine if fruit flies emerge from the collected fruits, and perhaps the most commonly used method, trapping of adult flies using some combination of specific trap types, such as the McPhail, MultiLure, Jackson, etc., and semiochemical attractant, such as a food lure, pheromone, or male lure and kairomonal attractant.

Trapping for surveillance of adult fruit flies is generally a reliable method that has a long history and has been largely accepted by trading partners as a standard means to detect, delimit, and monitor tephritid fruit fly populations. Although trapping remains the most effective means for detecting early introductions of invasive exotic or native fruit fly pests into eradicated and/or pest free areas, factors, such as trap type, source and formulation of attractant, trap spacing, and frequency of trap servicing, all influence the reliability and effectiveness of the system. Over the last 30 years there has been increasing interest in the “harmonization” of fruit fly detection methods for use in regulatory programs worldwide. This has led to the development of international standards (systems approaches, areas of low prevalence, host status, pest free areas, etc), which are discussed below, that advocate the use of verifiable “surveys” to detect or confirm fruit fly presence or absence. Pest risk analysis forms the basis of nearly all trade between countries. It is apparent that trapping serves a number of roles in the establishment, verification, and subsequent maintenance of a phytosanitary condition. In this chapter we discuss the framework for international phytosanitary agreements and trapping as it relates to the regulations that support such agreements.