The Apple Maggot Quarantine Area is a permanent quarantine area established by the U.S. state of Washington. The quarantine was authorized under Washington state law and the area's boundaries are periodically reset by the state's Department of Agriculture. The quarantine was declared in the early 1980s to arrest the spread of the apple maggot into a portion of Eastern Washington.
The apple maggot, which is not indigenous to the Pacific Northwest, was discovered to have arrived in Washington in 1980. [1] The quarantine was declared thereafter and is designed to protect Washington's core apple growing regions from infestation. [1] [2] The Washington State Department of Transportation installed 70 signs along highways around the state in 1985 to warn of the quarantine. [3]
Authority for the quarantine is codified under Title 17 of the Revised Code of Washington. [4]
Washington exported $718 million worth of apples in 2016, making apples the state's seventh largest export, and the apple has been declared the official state fruit. [5] [6] Almost two-thirds of all apples grown in the United States are produced in Washington. [7] [8] According to the Washington Apple Commission, the quality standards for Washington apples "are more stringent than grading standards used in any other growing region in the world". [9] A mandatory inspection program requires apples, all of which are hand-picked, to meet this set of standards that, in some criteria factors, exceed those set by the United States Department of Agriculture. [10] [11]
The state's Department of Agriculture has said that the apple maggot threatens "Washington's iconic apple industry, as well as many of our other fruit crops". [12] The establishment of reproducing populations of the apple maggot within Washington would have a devastating impact on the state's apple industry resulting from the potential loss of export markets. [13]
Each year, the Washington state Department of Agriculture deploys apple maggot traps to a selection of sites in the state with between 5,500 to 8,500 traps deployed annually. [14] [15] [13] [16] The traps are yellow paneled, adhesive traps baited with ammonium carbonate lures. [15] [17] The area surrounding locations which successfully trap apple maggots may be further studied by analyzing fruit in the area for the presence of apple maggot larvae and, ultimately, placed in the quarantine zone. [14] [15] [13] In 2011, for instance, the trapping of 35 apple maggots at 23 locations in Chelan County resulted in a recommendation to extend the quarantine zone to the western part of that county. [16]
The states of Oregon, California, Idaho, and Utah, all areas of the eastern United States, and all "foreign countries where apple maggot is established" have also been placed under quarantine by Washington. [18] In addition to these areas, as of 2017, all or portions of the state's counties of Chelan, Clallam, Clark, Cowlitz, Grays Harbor, Island, Jefferson, King, Kitsap, Klickitat, Lewis, Lincoln, Mason, Pacific, Pierce, Snohomish, Spokane, Skagit, Skamania, Thurston, Wahkiakum, Whatcom, and Yakima, are also quarantined. [18]
Washington State University's Tree Fruit Research and Extension Center has cited the fact that "apple maggots have never been found in commercially packed fruit in the state" as evidence of the quarantine's efficacy. [13]
There is a prohibition on transporting homegrown or foraged fruit from the quarantine zone into the pest free zone, except for fruit that has first been processed through canning, jarring, juicing, or drying. [2] [19] In addition, any yard waste from the quarantine zone must be disposed of within the zone and cannot be transported across its boundaries. [2] [19] [20] Store-bought fruit is exempt from the quarantine as it is already subject to inspection by state authorities. [21]
In addition, under state law pest control officials can order property owners to spray with pesticides trees in which the apple maggot has been observed. [14]
In September 2020, a crate of apples brought by Washington governor Jay Inslee to Bridgeport and Malden following major wildfires was found to contain apple maggots. The apples were picked at the Washington Governor's Mansion in Olympia and distributed by the governor's office during an official visit. This was accidental and was meant to be an empathetic gesture from the governor and governor's mansion. [22]
Apple Maggot Quarantine Area, also known as A.M.Q.A., was the name of a metal band from Seattle active from 1985 to 1989. [23]
The Japanese beetle is a species of scarab beetle. The adult measures 15 mm (0.6 in) in length and 10 mm (0.4 in) in width, has iridescent copper-colored elytra and a green thorax and head. It is not very destructive in Japan, but in North America and some regions of Europe is a noted pest to roughly 300 species of plants, including rose bushes, grapes, hops, canna, crape myrtles, birch trees, linden trees, and others.
A railroad worm is a larva or larviform female adult of a beetle of the genus Phrixothrix in the family Phengodidae, characterized by the possession of two different colors of bioluminescence. It has the appearance of a caterpillar. The eleven pairs of luminescent organs on their second thoracic segment through their ninth abdominal segment can glow yellowish-green, while the pair on their head can glow red; this is due to different luciferases in their bodies, as the reaction substrate, called luciferin, is the same.
The Tortricidae are a family of moths, commonly known as tortrix moths or leafroller moths, in the order Lepidoptera. This large family has over 11,000 species described, and is the sole member of the superfamily Tortricoidea, although the genus Heliocosma is sometimes placed within this superfamily. Many of these are economically important pests. Olethreutidae is a junior synonym. The typical resting posture is with the wings folded back, producing a rather rounded profile.
The apple maggot, also known as the railroad worm, is a species of fruit fly, and a pest of several types of fruits, especially apples. This species evolved about 150 years ago through a sympatric shift from the native host hawthorn to the domesticated apple species Malus domestica in the northeastern United States. This fly is believed to have been accidentally spread to the western United States from the endemic eastern United States region through contaminated apples at multiple points throughout the 20th century. The apple maggot uses Batesian mimicry as a method of defense, with coloration resembling that of the forelegs and pedipalps of a jumping spider.
Juglans nigra, the eastern American black walnut, is a species of deciduous tree in the walnut family, Juglandaceae, native to North America. It grows mostly in riparian zones, from southern Ontario, west to southeast South Dakota, south to Georgia, northern Florida and southwest to central Texas. Wild trees in the upper Ottawa Valley may be an isolated native population or may have derived from planted trees.
Ammonium carbonate is a salt with the chemical formula (NH4)2CO3. Since it readily degrades to gaseous ammonia and carbon dioxide upon heating, it is used as a leavening agent and also as smelling salt. It is also known as baker's ammonia and was a predecessor to the more modern leavening agents baking soda and baking powder. It is a component of what was formerly known as sal volatile and salt of hartshorn, and produces a pungent smell when baked.
The codling moth is a member of the Lepidopteran family Tortricidae. They are major pests to agricultural crops, mainly fruits such as apples and pears. Because the larvae are not able to feed on leaves, they are highly dependent on fruits as a food source and thus have a significant impact on crops. The caterpillars bore into fruit and stop it from growing, which leads to premature ripening. Various means of control, including chemical, biological, and preventive, have been implemented. This moth has a widespread distribution, being found on six continents. Adaptive behavior such as diapause and multiple generations per breeding season have allowed this moth to persist even during years of bad climatic conditions.
The Queensland fruit fly is a species of fly in the family Tephritidae in the insect order Diptera. B. tryoni is native to subtropical coastal Queensland and northern New South Wales. They are active during the day, but mate at night. B. tryoni lay their eggs in fruit. The larvae then hatch and proceed to consume the fruit, causing the fruit to decay and drop prematurely. B. tryoni are responsible for an estimated $28.5 million a year in damage to Australian crops and are the most costly horticultural pest in Australia. Up to 100% of exposed fruit can be destroyed due to an infestation of this fly species. Previously, pesticides were used to eliminate B. tryoni from damaging crops. However, these chemicals are now banned. Thus, experts devoted to B. tryoni control have transitioned to studying this pests' behaviors to determine a new method of elimination.
The light brown apple moth is a leafroller moth belonging to the lepidopteran family Tortricidae.
Rhagoletis indifferens, the western cherry fruit fly, is a pest that lives only on cherries. The adult form of this insect is slightly smaller than a housefly, with white stripes across the abdomen, yellow markings near the base of the wings, and black markings on the wings. The larva, which is the stage of this insect's lifecycle that causes the actual damage to the fruit, is similar to a typical fly larva or maggot. Female flies lay eggs in the cherries, where the larvae feed for 1–2 weeks before exiting. Western cherry fruit flies damage fruit by feeding, in both the adult and larval stages.
Rhagoletis mendax is a species of tephritid fruit fly known by the common name blueberry maggot. The blueberry maggot is closely related to the apple maggot, a larger fruit fly in the same genus. It is a major pest of plant species in the Ericaceae family, such as blueberry, cranberry, and huckleberry. The larva is 5 to 8 mm long, apodous, and white with chewing mouthparts. Female adults are 4.75mm in length, males are slightly smaller. Both adults are mostly black in color with white stripes, orange-red eyes, and a single pair of clear wings with black banding. The adult female fly lays a single egg per blueberry, and when the larva hatches it consumes the fruit, usually finishing the entire berry in under 3 weeks and rendering it unmarketable. The larva then falls to the soil and pupates. Adult flies emerge, mate, and females oviposit when blueberry plants are producing fruit. Each female fly can lay 25 to 100 eggs in their lifetime.
The Tephritid Workers Database is a web-based database for sharing information on tephritid fruit flies. Because these species are one of the most economically important group of insect species that threaten fruit and vegetable production and trade worldwide, a tremendous amount of information is made available each year: new technologies developed, new information on their biology and ecology; new control methods made available, new species identified, new outbreaks recorded and new operational control programmes launched. The TWD allows workers to keep up-to-date on the most recent developments and provides an easily accessible and always available resource.
The light brown apple moth is a leafroller moth belonging to the lepidopteran family Tortricidae. The moth was confirmed to be present in mainland United States in 2007, principally along the West Coast. The State of California and the US Department of Agriculture quickly imposed quarantine measures and decided to use aerial spraying of cities with pesticides to try to eradicate the moth. This led to substantial public controversy and claims of adverse health effects. Aerial spraying was discontinued in 2008. Trapping, monitoring, and inspection efforts were reduced or eliminated in 2012 due to budget problems.
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Ronald John Prokopy was an American entomologist who was a specialist on the behavior and biology of Rhagoletis flies and approaches to their management in apple orchards.
Counties may be quarantined in whole or in part based on trap catches and other evidence of apple maggot activity detected.
In some counties, apple maggots have been confined to small areas through partial quarantines that affect only a portion of the county, he said. After they were found last summer, the flies were sent to a state lab for positive identification, because apple maggot flies are almost identical to snowberry maggot flies. State agriculture agents collected fruit at each positive trap site and sent it to a "rearing facility" to determine if the larvae in the fruit continued their life cycle, which would indicate a reproducing population, McCarthy said. The results showed that the population was not reproducing, which was good news, he said.