United States Department of Agriculture Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service Plant Protection and Quarantine



## Commodity Import Evaluation Document (CIED)



### Country of Origin : Australia 

### Date of Request : September 7, 2010



### Commodity: Al l Mediterranean fruit fly host material from Australia including New South Wales, Northern Territo ry, Queensland, South Australia, Victoria and Tasmania that is currently enterable to the United States with mitigations for fruit flies. All Queensland frui t fly host material from Australia including Western Australia that is currently enterable to the United States with mitigations for fruit flies. Mitigations for other pests are still required.

Common name(s): N/A

________________________________________________________________________


### Recognition of additional States as Medfly and Queensland fruit fly Pest

Free Areas (PFA) for Australia

Currently, certain Mediterranean fruit fly (Medfly

, Ceratitis capitata ) and Queensland fruit fly ( Bactrocera tryoni ) host materials (fruit) may be imported into the United States

from areas in Australia that are free of both Medfly and Queensland fruit fly

, or from

areas in Australia with Medfly and Queensland fruit fly after an approved APHIS

treatment is used to mit igate the pests. APHIS currently recognizes the following areas

in Australia as free of both fruit flies:

(1) The Riverland district of South Australia, defined as the county of Hamley; the geographical subdivisions, called hundreds, of Bookpurnong, Cade ll, Eba, Fisher, Forster, Gordon, Hay, Holder, Katarapko, Loveday, Markaranka, Morook, Murbko, Murtho, Nildottie, Paisley, Parcoola, Paringa, Pooginook, Pyap, Ridley, Skurray, Stuart, and Waikerie; and the Parish of Onley of the Shire of Mildura, Victoria; (2) The Riverina district of New South Wales, defined as: (i) The shire of Carrathool; and (ii) The Murrumbidgee Irrigation Area, which is within the administrative boundaries of the city of Griffith and the shires of Leeton, Narrendera, and Murrumbidgee ; and2 (3) The Sunraysia district, defined as the shires of Wentworth and Balranald in New South Wales and the shires of Mildura, Swan Hill, Wakool, and Kerang, the cities of Mildura and Swan Hill, and the borough of Kerang in Victoria in

Australia

. (4) Ta smania has been historically free of all fruit flies and has been recognized as fruit fly free and has exported fruit to the United States under that status since

1998.

In 2010 Biosecurity Australia requested recognition of new areas from which Medfly and Queensland fruit fly host material (fruit) could be exported to the United States. Each proposed pest free area is free of one of the fruit flies, but may have the other fruit fly, so

the areas are not free of all fruit flies. Fruit from both areas of A ustralia, except for the areas free of both Medfly and Queensland fruit fly, will still require a quarantine treatment, because each area will still have one fruit fly. However the treatments required are different for each fly, are less stringent than t he treatments for both flies, and therefore are less damaging to the commodity.

Survey and detection protocols for a PFA must be evaluated and approved by APHIS before the declared PFA is recognized by APHIS as pest

- free. Before host commodities

associate d with the PFA can be imported into the United States, the requirements of 7

CFR 319.56

- 5 must be met. This includes following the criteria for establishing and maintaining a PFA in the International Standards for Phytosanitary Measures No.4:

“ Requirements for the Establishment of Pest free areas ” (IPPC, 1995).

In response to Biosecurity Australia’s request, APHIS evaluated the fruit fly program and pest survey protocols, and the phytosanitary risks associated with importing fruit from the

additional areas declared pest

- free for a specific fruit fly species by Australia. Biosecurity Australia provided APHIS with survey data and information relating to their establishment and management of the pest

- free areas for Medfly and Queensland fruit fly. Each area has been historically free of Mediterranean fruit fly or Queensland fruit fly, and any outbreaks have been eradicated promptly. These areas are well defined geographic areas of Australia (Figure 1).

Natural barriers act as buffer zones between populati ons of fruit flies in the western and eastern parts of Australia, and the Biosecurity Services Group has a National Exotic Fruit Fly Surveillance Program to reduce and eradicate any new populations of fruit flies

in western and eastern Australia. The cen tral portion of Australia is dominated by several deserts and arid zones where the entire region is a desert or scrub desert with very low rainfall and little or no natural vegetation. This region is free of fruit fly host material and approximately 2,50 0 to 3,500 kilometers wide. To manage the risk of facilitated transport, domestic regulations and movement controls are imposed to prevent the spread of Medfly and Queensland fruit fly to areas where they are not already present.

In October, 2010, Biose curity Australia provided confirmation to APHIS that it has been over one year since any Mediterranean fruit flies were found in the eastern provinces of

Australia or Queensland fruit fly was found in Western Australia. In fact these areas3 historically ha ve been free of fruit flies for many years, with only minor outbreaks detected and eradicated. In September 2010, Biosecurity Australia provided APHIS with a description of the geographic boundaries of the portions of Australia that are to be

included in the pest free areas.

The program to establish and maintain the western part of Australia as free of Queensland fruit fly and the eastern states of Australia as free of Medfly followed the same guidelines, protocols and manuals as the area of Australia that currently is recognized by APHIS as fruit fly free (Anonymous, 2000; IPHRWG, 1996). The Biosecurity Services Group and the Autralian State and territorial governments follow international protocols for fruit fly trapping and control programs. The trap types, baits and lures, density of traps and servicing intervals are all in accordance with IAEA ( International Atomic Energy Agency ) and APHIS protocols for eradication and maintenance of fruit fly pest free areas. Biosecurity Services Group and the Australian State and territorial governments maintain 25,000 fruit fly traps as part of the National Exotic Fruit Fly Surveillance Program. Biosecurity Services Group and the Australian State and territorial governments maintain quality controls over t he trapping programs (Jessup et al., 2007).

Biosecurity Australia has an emergency response plan for Mediterranean fruit fly and Queensland fruit fly. Any time there is an outbreak (defined as captures of more than one4 fly or larvae) the plan is activa ted. The plan is very detailed about what to do with the suspicious capture and how the program will respond. A grid is created and additional traps are installed. Eradication activities are initiated which may include bait sprays,

male annihilation tec hnique, fruit sampling, and fruit disposal. A regulated area is established, and regulated fruit must be treated if it is to leave the area.

Activities performed to support the pest

- free areas in western and eastern Australia included the following ris k management measures: surveillance, audits of trap placement, trap methods, trap records, diagnostic tests, post

- harvest packing procedures, interception and sampling data from destructive analysis, record keeping, and training of personnel to maintain ph ytosanitary security of the importing country (such as safeguarding, signage, consignment integrity, and pest identification skills).

Establishment and maintenance of this pest free area for fruit flies conforms to International Standards for Phytosanita ry Measures (ISPM) # 4 and (ISPM) # 26, which includes systems to establish freedom, phytosanitary measures to maintain freedom, and checks to verify freedom has been maintained (IPPC, 1995; 2006). These PFA components were achieved through data assembly, trapping surveys (delimiting, detection and monitoring), regulatory controls, audits and documentation.

After reviewing the information provided by Biosecurity Australia , as summarized above,

I have concluded that the eastern part of Australia including N ew South Wales, Northern Territory, Queensland, South Australia , Victoria and Western Australia meets the requirements of 7 CFR 319.56

- 5 for establishing and maintaining pest

- free areas. In addition, the survey and emergency action protocols used to determ ine and maintain pest

free status in Australia meet APHIS’s approval.

Recommendations:

Based on their review of the survey data and other information APHIS has concluded that the eastern part of Australia including New South Wales, Nor thern Territory, Q ueensland, South Australia and Victoria can be recognized as free of the Mediterranean fruit fly, Ceratitis capitata , and Western Australia can be recognized as free of the Queensland fruit fly, Bactrocera tryoni. This action would recognize portions of

A ustralia as free of the pest Mediterranean fruit fly (Medfly, Ceratitis capitata Wiedemann) and other portions of Australia as free of the Queensland fruit fly ( Bactrocera tryoni ) and allow the importation of Medfly and Queensland fruit fly host material ( fruit) into the United States from these areas of Australia with only mitigations or requirements for Medfly when Medfly is the only pest of concern

, or for Queensland fruit fly when Queensland fruit fly is the only pest of concern.

References

7 CFR 319 .56

- 5. 2008. Code of Federal Regulations. Title 7. Part 319

- 5 Pest

- free areas. Office of Federal Register, National Archives and Records Administration, Washington
DC, USA.5 Anonymous, 2000. A Submission Supporting Area Freedom from Queensland Fruit Fly

an d Mediterranean Fruit Fly for the Riverland, Sunraysia and Riverrina Pest Free Areas of Mainland Australia. Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry

- Australia.

Jessup, A.J., B. Domniak, B. Woods, C.P.F. De Lima, A. Tomkins and C.J. Smallridge.

2007. Area

- wide management of fruit flies in Australia. In Area wide control of insect pests, M.J.B. Vreysen, A.S. Robinson and J. Hendrichs, eds. Springer Verlag, Dordrecht, the Netherlands. p. 685

- 697.

IPHRWG. 1996. Code of Practice for Managemen t of Queensland Fruit Fly. The Standing Committee on Agriculture and Resource Management. Prepared by Interstate Plant Health Regulation Working Group (IPHRWG).

IPPC. 1995. International Standards for Phytosanitary Measures No. 4. Requirements for

the Establishment of Pest Free Areas. Secretariat of International Plant Protection Convention. FAO. 4 pp.

IPPC. 2006. International Standards for Phytosanitary Measures No. 26. Establishment of pest free areas for fruit flies (Tephritidae). Secretariat of International Plant Protection Convention. FAO. 15 pp.

________________________________________________________________________



### __ X ___ APPROVED

Conditions of Entry: 

### Must meet requirements of 7 CFR 319.56

- 5 And any quarantine treatment required for pests not covered by the pest free area.

_____ DISAPPROVED

Justification

___________________________ _________________ Signature (name) Date