ABSTRACT
In 1984, Mediterranean fruit fly, Ceratitis capitata, was eradicated from a 25 km fruit and vegetable growing area of Western Australia, the result of a study aimed at determining an appropriate way to integrate chemical and sterile insect release techniques. In 1990, based upon the techniques developed for Mediterranean fruit fly, a population of Queensland fruit fly, Bactrocera tryoni, was eradicated from 800 km2 of metropolitan Perth in Western Australia. The Queensland fruit fly was detected for the first time in Western Australia during February 1989, and until this discovery it had been kept out of Western Australia by interstate quarantine measures. On the eastern seaboard of Australia, Queensland fruit fly is a major horticultural pest, attacking a wide range of fruits and vegetables. The production and release of sterile Queensland fruit fly were based upon the successful 1984 eradication of Mediterranean fruit fly in Carnarvon, Western Australia, commercial fruit and vegetable growing region 1,000 km north of Perth.
