Sterile fruit flies released in South Australia

Millions of sterile male fruit flies have been released in South Australia (SA) to breed with wild females and eradicate the species.

The two million sterilized flies were released by authorities to counter a major outbreak of Queensland fruit flies in north-west Adelaide.

The outbreak, which was detected in January, prompted several suburbs to be put into biosecurity lockdown, preventing the removal of any fruit from the zone.

In response to the outbreak, the sterile fruit flies were bred in SA's National Sterile Insect Facility in Port Augusta, 300 kilometers north of Adelaide.

Queensland fruit flies were bred at the facility and given supplements to make them sing better, seem fitter and smell better to the wild females before they were sterilized with x-rays.

The aim is that the wild female flies will choose the sterilized males as mates, preventing them from reproducing and eventually killing the species off.

"This is an absolute game-changer, not only for South Australia's horticulture, but for the nation's exporters," SA Agriculture Minister Tim Whetstone told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) on Tuesday night.

"Creating more jobs, making sure that South Australia and the nation is fruit-fly free."

"What we've seen at Port Augusta, the breeding of these sterile flies is just a small step in the big picture to make sure that here in South Australia we lead by example."

Whetstone said that while 2 million seemed like a big number it was a "very, very small step" with as many as 50 million flies to be rel eased every week in the latter stages of the project.

Queensland fruit flies cost the Australian horticultural industry an estimated 300 million Australian dollars (230 million U.S. dollars) every year.

"The damage it does is to... the horticultural regions, but also our reputation (as an exporter)," Whetstone said.

(ASIA PACIFIC DAILY)