Shire not expecting a rush of mosquitos in Anglesea

THE Surf Coast Shire says it is not expecting an early and large rush of mosquitos coming from the Anglesea River this spring, although a local pest control business says the insects were a major issue last year and would be again this year.

The shire’s mosquito management program monitors and treats major breeding sites in line with the breeding cycle of the three main mosquito species in the Geelong and Surf Coast area.

The program normally operates from August to late March each year, and the shire says mosquito numbers are generally very low during the winter months so monitoring and treatment is not needed.

James Jacka, owner and director of Jacka Bros Pest Control, said on Tuesday this week that the health of the Anglesea River was very poor, with the low numbers of fish meaning mosquito larvae were breeding unchecked.

“People don’t fish there (in the river) and fish aren’t eating the wrigglers and the mozzies essentially have a free run at the river and burst to life,” Mr Jacka said.

“In the past three days, I’m starting to see mozzies out again, and probably a month ago I saw an abundance of wrigglers in the river.”

He said the Surf Coast Shire did some treatments on the Anglesea River in 2020, but the shire should have already started its larvacide program ahead of this summer.

Mr Jacka is worried about another surge of Ross River fever, as was the case last summer.

He claimed there were just under 100 cases of Ross River fever last year in Anglesea alone.

“There were two cases in Lorne, and both those cases believe they got it in Anglesea, so it’s certainly very centralised and localised.”

The shire’s general manager of environment and development Ransce Salan said “no recent community concerns” had been raised with the shire regarding very large numbers of mosquito larvae in the Anglesea River.

“Our officers have inspected the river and confirmed that there were low numbers of larvae.

“Council approved an additional $19,000 in the 2021-22 budget to enable its ongoing mosquito management program for Anglesea River, which includes monitoring, sampling and larvacide treatments.

“As we come out of winter and the weather begins to warm up, monitoring will increase and treatments will be undertaken when larvae numbers are high.”