HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

H.C.R. NO.

70

TWENTY-FIRST LEGISLATURE, 2002

 

STATE OF HAWAII

 
   


HOUSE CONCURRENT RESOLUTION

 

 

URGING the animal and plant health inspection service of the UNited States department of AGRICULTURE to initiate a program to eradicate fruit flies in hawaii.

 

WHEREAS, Hawaii is inhabited by four fruit fly species, the Mediterranean fruit fly, Ceratitis capitata, the Melon fly, Bactrocera cucurbitae, the Oriental fruit fly, Bactrocera dorsalis, and the Solanaceous fruit fly, Bactrocera latifons; and

WHEREAS, these fruit fly species attack, damage, and destroy a wide range of agricultural crops, including fresh fruits and vegetables, and are recognized as some of the worst agricultural pests worldwide; and

WHEREAS, the presence of these pests in Hawaii results in lost production for growers, reduced fruit quality, and increased pesticide costs necessary to exterminate fruit flies in fields and orchards; and

WHEREAS, the presence of these pests in Hawaii has also resulted in the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) imposing a federal quarantine on Hawaii that prevents the movement of many fresh fruits and vegetables to U.S. mainland markets unless subject to a post-harvest commodity treatment for fruit flies; and

WHEREAS, post-harvest commodity treatments are presently not available for all fruits and vegetables of export interest to growers in Hawaii; and

WHEREAS, post-harvest commodity treatments generally take many years to develop and to gain USDA approval;

WHEREAS, the presence of fruit flies in Hawaii is a constant threat to U.S. mainland agriculture; and

WHEREAS, it is in the national interest for the USDA to rid Hawaii of fruit flies that threaten U.S. agricultural production and exports to foreign markets; and

WHEREAS, new technologies are being developed by the USDA's Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) and Agricultural Research Service (ARS) to control and eradicate fruit flies in tropical and subtropical areas; and

WHEREAS, the use of new pesticides, such as Spinosad, shows promise in controlling multiple species of fruit flies as evidenced in field and area wide studies in Hawaii and Central America conducted by ARS and APHIS; and

WHEREAS, ARS has demonstrated significant fruit fly suppression in field trials in Hawaii; and

WHEREAS, suppression and eradication studies underway in Hawaii and Central America indicate pesticide products are now available that pose little or no significant risk to non-target species; and

WHEREAS, Hawaii's agriculture and its overall economy would benefit from the growth of a wide variety of crops on prime agricultural lands made available with the decline in plantation agriculture in Hawaii; now, therefore,

BE IT RESOLVED by the House of Representatives of the Twenty-first Legislature of the State of Hawaii, Regular Session of 2002, the Senate concurring, that APHIS is urged to allocate funds and initiate planning for the eradication of the four fruit fly species currently established in the State of Hawaii; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that APHIS allocate funds to demonstrate that the use of new pesticides, such as Spinosad, in a state-wide fruit fly eradication program poses no significant risk to non-target insect species in Hawaii; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that certified copies of this Concurrent Resolution be transmitted to the Secretary of the USDA, Governor of the State of Hawaii, Chairperson of the Board of Agriculture, Director of Health, Chairperson of the Board of Land and Natural Resources, and Hawaii's Congressional Delegation.

 

 

OFFERED BY:

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