Eyes sought for fruit fly watch

A QUEENSLAND Fruit Fly Monitoring Program is coming to Ballarat.

Ballarat Permaculture Guild’s Ben Nunquam said the BPG is seeking community members to be part of the citizen science experiment and data collection initiative.

“We’re looking for people to host traps in their yards across Ballarat to monitor how far south the fruit fly comes,” he said.

“The project is motivated by the effects of climate change, which is pushing the flies’ environment ever-southward, and fleeting sightings, by AgVic and citizen scientists on iNaturalist in recent years, of the fly reaching further down from the northern Victorian Sunraysia growing regions.

“On Saturday, 9 October, we’re going to have a stall at the Farmers Market at Lake Wendouree to distribute traps that have been ordered, and welcome others who want to join the monitoring project.”

Mr Nunquam said those motivated to keep good garden hygiene might also be keen to get involved, to gain a stronger understanding of the ways in which fruit trees or veggie patches can potentially cause issues, if not maintained in the optimum ways.

“The fruit fly breeds in uneaten fruit, so there’s a community educational aspect to this project as well,” he said.

“Not many of us would consider fallen fruit in the yard a deep problem.”

A Queensland fruit fly was discovered by a guild member in their garden earlier this year for the first time.

The Ballarat Permaculture Guild hopes to lessen the flies’ spread, as “without action, our backyard and community gardeners… could face serious crop losses.”

They encourage residents to head along to the market this weekend to meet them, have a discussion, ask questions about the project, and potentially take a trap with them, which could be put in a residential or community garden, on a farm, or into a wild fruit tree close to home.

For more information, contact [email protected].