This section of the FEDERAL REGISTER

contains documents other than rules or

proposed rules that are applicable to the

public. Notices of hearings and investigations,

committee meetings, agency decisions and

rulings, delegations of authority, filing of

petitions and applications and agency

statements of organization and functions are

examples of documents appearing in this

section.

Notices Federal Register

51526 

Vol. 79, No. 168 

Friday, August 29, 2014 

1To view the notice, the CIED, and the comment 

we received, go to http://www.regulations.gov/

#!docketDetail;D=APHIS-2011-0088. 

DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 

Animal and Plant Health Inspection 

Service 

[Docket No. APHIS–2011–0088] 

Determination of Pest-Free Areas in 

Australia 

AGENCY: Animal and Plant Health 

Inspection Service, USDA. 

ACTION: Notice. 

SUMMARY: We are advising the public 

that we are recognizing the Australian 

States of New South Wales, Northern 

Territory, Queensland, South Australia, 

Tasmania, and Victoria as free of 

Mediterranean fruit fly (Medfly) and the 

State of Western Australia as free of 

Queensland fruit fly. Based on our 

evaluation of the survey protocols and 

other information provided by 

Australia’s national plant protection 

organization, which we made available 

to the public for review and comment 

through a previous notice, the 

Administrator has determined that these 

areas meet the criteria in our regulations 

for recognition as pest-free areas for 

either Medfly or Queensland fruit fly. 

DATES: Effective Date: August 29, 2014. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Mr. 

George Apgar Balady, Senior Regulatory 

Policy Specialist, Regulatory 

Coordination and Compliance, PPQ, 

APHIS, 4700 River Road Unit 133, 

Riverdale, MD 20737–1236; (301) 851– 

2240. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Under the 

regulations in ‘‘Subpart—Fruits and 

Vegetables’’ (7 CFR 319.56–1 through 

319.56–69, referred to below as the 

regulations), the Animal and Plant 

Health Inspection Service (APHIS) of 

the U.S. Department of Agriculture 

prohibits or restricts the importation of 

fruits and vegetables into the United 

States from certain parts of the world to 

prevent plant pests from being 

introduced into and spread within the 

United States. 

Section 319.56–4 of the regulations 

contains a performance-based process 

for approving the importation of 

commodities that, based on the findings 

of a pest risk analysis, can be safely 

imported subject to one or more of the 

designated phytosanitary measures 

listed in paragraph (b) of that section. 

One of the designated phytosanitary 

measures is that the fruits or vegetables 

are imported from a pest-free area in the 

country of origin that meets the 

requirements of § 319.56–5 for freedom 

from that pest and are accompanied by 

a phytosanitary certificate stating that 

the fruits or vegetables originated in a 

pest-free area in the country of origin. 

Under the regulations in § 319.56–5, 

APHIS requires that determinations of 

pest-free areas be made in accordance 

with the criteria for establishing 

freedom from pests found in 

International Standards for 

Phytosanitary Measures (ISPM) No. 4, 

‘‘Requirements For the Establishment of 

Pest Free Areas.’’ The international 

standard was established by the 

International Plant Protection 

Convention of the United Nations’ Food 

and Agriculture Organization and is 

incorporated by reference in our 

regulations in 7 CFR 300.5. In addition, 

APHIS must also approve the survey 

protocol used to determine and 

maintain pest-free status, as well as 

protocols for actions to be performed 

upon detection of a pest. Pest-free areas 

are subject to audit by APHIS to verify 

their status. 

In accordance with our process, we 

published a notice 1 in the Federal 

Register on September 14, 2011 (76 FR 

56730–56731, Docket No. APHIS–2011– 

0088), in which we announced the 

availability, for review and comment, of 

a commodity import evaluation 

document (CIED) that evaluates the 

information presented by Australia in 

support of its request to recognize new 

areas of that country as being free of 

Ceratitis capitata, the Mediterranean 

fruit fly (Medfly), and to recognize other 

areas of the country as being free of 

Bactrocera tryoni, the Queensland fruit 

fly. Specifically, the Government of 

Australia asked that we recognize the 

States of New South Wales, Northern 

Territory, Queensland, South Australia, 

Tasmania, and Victoria as free of Medfly 

and the State of Western Australia as 

free of Queensland fruit fly. 

We solicited comments on the notice 

for 60 days ending on November 14, 

2011. We received one comment by that 

date, from a State agricultural official. 

The comment is discussed below. 

The commenter expressed concern 

about the expansion of fruit fly-free 

areas because the introduction of 

Medfly or Queensland fly into the 

commenter’s State could result in costly 

eradication programs and possible 

economic losses for producers due to 

quarantines and market disruptions. 

APHIS has recognized various areas of 

Australia as free of Medfly, Queensland 

fruit fly, and other fruit flies destructive 

to citrus for over 10 years, and no fruit 

fly problems have occurred as a result 

of commodities being imported into the 

United States from these areas. 

Populations of Medfly are restricted to 

a small part of the southwest of Western 

Australia and isolated communities in 

coastal towns in the north of the State. 

With the exception of the fruit fly 

exclusion zone consisting of parts of 

South Australia, northern Victoria, and 

southern New South Wales, populations 

of Queensland fruit fly are restricted to 

Queensland, New South Wales, 

Victoria, and the Northern Territory. 

Freedom from Medfly outside the 

State of Western Australia has been 

established by results from ongoing 

monitoring with permanent Medfly 

traps, as part of the national trapping 

grid. Australia has not trapped a Medfly 

in an eastern Australian State since 

1953 in Melbourne. After a single 

Medfly was detected in the Katherine 

area in Northwest Australia in 1994, 

eradication activities were initiated and 

no further detections have occurred. 

The national plant protection 

organization (NPPO) of Australia has 

declared the whole State of Western 

Australia free of Queensland fruit fly, 

and although incursions have been 

reported, these have been successfully 

eradicated. The Queensland fruit fly 

was eradicated from the Perth 

metropolitan area in 1990. APHIS will 

continuously monitor commodities from 

Australia with port-of-entry inspections. 

We believe that this gives the United 

States robust protection from fruit flies. 

The commenter also stated that an 

area should not be declared free of only 


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Federal Register / Vol. 79, No. 168 / Friday, August 29, 2014 / Notices 51527 

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USDAAPHIS/subscriber/

new?preferences=true#tab1. 

select fruit flies. The commenter 

suggested that the fruit-fly-free 

designation should be applied only to 

areas free from all fruit flies of economic 

importance because recognizing areas as 

free from one species but not another is 

inconsistent and confusing. 

Although APHIS is recognizing 

portions of Australia as free of Medfly 

and another portion of Australia as free 

of the Queensland fruit fly, host 

material (fruit) from these areas of 

Australia would still require mitigation, 

typically quarantine treatment, before 

importation into the United States. 

Commodities from the areas of Australia 

where Medfly is the only pest of 

concern would require only mitigations 

for Medfly. Likewise, commodities 

originating from areas in Australia 

where Queensland fruit fly is the only 

pest of concern would require only 

mitigations for Queensland fruit fly. The 

benefit of declaring these areas as free 

from only one of the fruit flies that may 

infest the commodity is that the 

treatment for either fruit fly is less 

stringent than the treatment that would 

be required for a commodity originating 

from an area where both species are 

present. For instance, cherries from 

Australia that are imported into the 

United States must undergo cold 

treatment for Queensland fruit fly and 

must be treated with methyl bromide for 

Medfly. However, with the recognition 

of fruit fly areas as described in this 

notice, no area of Australia is home to 

both Medfly and Queensland fruit fly. 

Therefore, cherries imported from 

Australia will only have to be treated 

with cold treatment if originating from 

an area where Queensland fruit fly is 

present or be treated with methyl 

bromide if originating from an area 

where Medfly is present. 

The commenter asked about the trap 

densities in Australia, stating that the 

25,000 fruit fly traps maintained by the 

NPPO of Australia and the Australian 

State and territorial governments is low 

compared to the more than 55,000 fruit 

fly traps maintained in Florida. 

Australia maintains trap densities that 

are in line with International Atomic 

Energy Agency fruit fly trapping 

guidelines, the same guidelines that the 

United States follows. Australia’s 

trapping manual specifies that the traps 

be deployed on a 400 km grid in urban 

areas and 1 km grid in horticultural 

production areas. The fruit fly trapping 

programs in Australia are concentrated 

in fruit-growing regions in order to 

provide support for fruit fly freedom for 

specific areas, such as the districts of 

Riverland, Riverina, and Sunraysia. The 

climate in many parts of Australia does 

not support the presence of fruit fly 

hosts or provide conditions suitable for 

fruit fly survival, and trapping is not 

required in these areas. In addition, 

Australia requires that their trapping 

systems, including trap density and 

placement, undergo annual audits to 

ensure their effectiveness. 

The commenter asked about the 

population dynamics of Medfly and 

Queensland fruit fly in the specified 

Australian States. The commenter also 

asked what types of onsite assessments 

have been done and whether future 

program audits are planned. 

In areas of Eastern Australia where 

the Queensland fruit fly can be found, 

it is most active in summer and fall. 

Cold and dry conditions, especially 

freezes, cause reductions in 

populations. The NPPO of Australia has 

declared the whole State of Western 

Australia free of Queensland fruit fly 

and, although incursions have been 

reported, these have been successfully 

eradicated. 

Medfly is active in the summer 

months in Western Australia, where 

sterile insect technique (SIT), 

biocontrol, and other suppression 

strategies are being used. Confirmation 

of Medfly distribution in Western 

Australia is obtained and verified 

through specific detection surveys. 

Freedom from Medfly in other 

Australian States has been established 

by results from ongoing monitoring with 

permanent Medfly traps as part of the 

national trapping grid. In South 

Australia, any detections of Medfly from 

the stringent surveillance networks are 

rapidly followed by eradication 

activities. In the Northern Territory, a 

number of trapping and detection 

systems have been maintained in both 

urban and horticultural areas for Medfly 

since 1985. While there have been some 

detections of small numbers of Medfly 

in South Australia and the Northern 

Territory, effective detection and 

eradication programs have successfully 

maintained both South Australia and 

the Northern Territory as free from 

Medfly. 

On-site assessments by APHIS were 

conducted for the pest-free areas in 

Riverland, Riverina, and Sunraysia 

when they were first established. Based 

on our experiences with the NPPO of 

Australia and with the importation of 

fruit fly host commodities from areas 

APHIS has previously recognized as free 

of fruit flies, we determined that no 

additional site visits were necessary 

here. We will inspect commodities 

imported from Australia for fruit flies at 

the port of entry and we will rely on the 

annual survey data from the NPPO of 

Australia to inform us if fruit flies are 

found in areas that we have recognized 

as free of fruit flies. We do not currently 

plan to conduct further site visits or 

formal program audits but reserve the 

right to do so in the future if necessary. 

The commenter also expressed 

concern about the adequacy, in his 

view, of opportunities for stakeholder 

involvement in the initial stages of the 

development of these types of program 

proposals. The commenter requested the 

opportunity to participate in site visits 

and initial program review discussions 

on issues that could directly impact his 

State. 

APHIS is committed to a transparent 

process and an inclusive role for 

stakeholders in our risk analysis 

process. To that end, we have put in 

place a stakeholder notification system 2

to provide opportunities for 

involvement during the initial stages of 

the development of pest risk 

assessments. However, since this 

comment relates to the structure of 

APHIS’s overall risk analysis process, 

and not to the determination of pest-free 

areas in Australia, it is outside the scope 

of the current action. 

Therefore, in accordance with 

§ 319.56–5(c), we are announcing the 

Administrator’s determination that the 

States of New South Wales, Northern 

Territory, Queensland, South Australia, 

Tasmania, and Victoria meet the criteria 

of § 319.56–5(a) and (b) with respect to 

freedom from Medfly and the State of 

Western Australia meets the criteria of 

§ 319.56–5(a) and (b) with respect to 

freedom from Queensland fruit fly. 

Accordingly, we are amending the list of 

pest-free areas to list the States of New 

South Wales, Northern Territory, 

Queensland, South Australia, Tasmania, 

and Victoria as free of Medfly and the 

State of Western Australia as free of 

Queensland fruit fly. A list of pest-free 

areas currently recognized by APHIS 

can be found at http://

www.aphis.usda.gov/import_export/

plants/manuals/ports/downloads/

DesignatedPestFreeAreas.pdf. 

Done in Washington, DC, this 25th day of 

August 2014. 

Kevin Shea, 

Administrator, Animal and Plant Health 

Inspection Service. 

[FR Doc. 2014–20613 Filed 8–28–14; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 3410–34–P 


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