Biosecurity Tasmania staff have come under fire for fruit fly inspections at George Town and disposal bins located on the control zone perimeters.
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A George Town resident wrote to The Examiner after three Primary Industries, Parks, Water and Environment department staff members visited.
They attended the George Town home and collected information, but did not inspect trees in the backyard.
“They never went and had a look at my fruit trees... If that was a fruit fly inspection, our fruit industry is doomed,” the resident wrote.
A department spokesperson said the Fruit Fly Response team gathered information and mapped it to plan inspections.
“In an area where fruit fly has been detected, staff knock on doors, talk to landholders, ask questions and gain consent from property owners,” the spokesperson said.
“Fruit Fly Response staff are working under systems designed to acquire good information in order to set up effective and logical surveillance, assessment, trapping and baiting.”
The design of fruit disposal bins has also attracted questions from people travelling through the control zones.
These bins have a hole in the top to stop people accessing the fruit inside and to ensure the lid will not blow off, the spokesperson said.
“The risk of any fruit flies emerging via the open-holed lid has been assessed as minimal and only larvae would emerge from the disposed fruit and burrow and pupate for a matter of weeks.”
“Roadside bins are emptied frequently and then the waste produce is deep buried, negating concerns over pupation and fruit fly release within the bins.”