Editorial:Fruit fly highlights need for vigilance

The news that a single male Queensland fruit fly had been found in a surveillance trap in Mt Roskill, Auckland, would have sent shivers down the spines of Bay hoticulturalists.

While the Ministry for Primary Industries (MPI) was last night assuring the country the discovery did not mean a full breeding population was present in New Zealand, the Minister for Primary Industries, David Carter, said New Zealand had begun notifying its relevant trade partners.

He said the fruit fly could have come in bulk imports of fresh fruit from Queensland or via the airport border.

MPI has a lure-based surveillance trapping system, involving around 7500 traps nationwide. Mr Carter said he was aware of the seriousness of the findings, but between 2007 and 2011 there had been 39 discoveries of fruit fly eggs and larvae at border security.

But border security and suburban Auckland are two different scenarios.

Residents of Avondale and Mt Roskill have been warned inspectors may want to investigate trees on their properties and restrictions will apply on fruit and vegetables moving outside a yet-to-be-advised controlled area.

This comes the day after the impact of Psa-V was, for the first time, credibly quantified.

Until now, the devastation in the kiwifruit industry has been talked of only in general terms.

But on Wednesday, Lincoln University's Agribusiness and Economics Research Unit released the first assessment of the damage toll. It calculated the kiwifruit industry would lose $885 million and, over the next three years, more than 1400 jobs.

Anyone who doubts the impact of the Psa-V vine-killing disease need only consider the 1184 orchards hit by the scourge, the majority of them centred around Te Puke - the self-styled Kiwifruit Capital of the World.

Crucially, the report suggested the true impact of the disease had not yet been felt.

It is not known how Psa-V entered New Zealand - although theories and rumours abound - but the fortunes of Te Puke and other towns reliant on the kiwifruit industry (which, let's face it, in a small area like the Western Bay is all of us) show the impact of a biosecurity breach.

When will those crossing our borders, or whose produce is crossing our borders, realise they have our livelihoods in their hands?

For the sake of all horticulturalists, visitors to New Zealand and Kiwis returning home need to be aware they are risking entire industries if they forget to chuck away that piece of fruit at the airport. From travellers to importers, we must all be vigilant or little bugs like this Queensland fruit fly will invade and bring communities to their knees.