Falklands : Earwig Control Considered at Environmental Committee Meeting
Submitted by Falkland Islands News Network (Juanita Brock) 06.10.2012 (Article Archived on 20.10.2012)
The Environmental Officer has reported that the paper on Earwig Control had gone to the August meeting of Executive Council (EXCO) where it received a lukewarm reception because EXCO’s members expressed concern about the introduction of biological control agents.
Earwig Control Considered at Environmental Committee Meeting
By J. Brock (FINN)
The Environmental Officer has reported that the paper on Earwig Control had gone to the August meeting of Executive Council (EXCO) where it received a lukewarm reception because EXCO’s members expressed concern about the introduction of biological control agents. However, they had agreed that the principle of using this method to control earwigs had potential.
Executive Council requested that more information be obtained from CABI regarding costings and potential side effects. They also supported the proposal that CABI contact the Chilean authorities to discuss similar species research there. The Chair commented that biological control was not new in the Falklands.
In addition, the Chair said that he understood residents of Fox Bay and Port Howard were regularly spraying against earwigs - meaning the problem could no longer be considered as being restricted to just Stanley and East Falkland.
Andrew Pollard added that the Agriculture Department had a budget of £5,000 to assist those on lower incomes to get their homes sprayed.
Further to this, he commented that in agricultural terms, the use of biological control was only of concern when considering flystrike. Moreover, the flies that cause this are not of the same species to those proposed to control earwigs and therefore their impact is not yet known.
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