ABSTRACT
The presence of the Mediterranean fruit fly Ceratitis capitata (Wiedemann) (Tephritidae) in the Dominican Republic was officially reported in March 2015. Subsequent delimitation found that the pest had already spread to 2053 km2 in the eastern part of the country, constituting a major outbreak. Trading partners imposed an immediate ban on most exports of fruit and vegetables listed as hosts of the pest, resulting in a loss of over USD 40 million over the remaining nine months of 2015. The outbreak was centred on Punta Cana, one of the busiest tourist destinations in the Caribbean. The agricultural production sites affected by the ban were more than 200 km away from the outbreak. The Dominican Government established the Moscamed Programme (Moscamed-RD) through its Ministry of Agriculture as an emergency response. This programme received the financial and operational support to carry out all required surveillance and control activities. The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), and the United States Department of Agriculture-Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (USDA-APHIS) cooperated to assist the country in establishing a national monitoring network to determine the geographic extent of the outbreak and to initiate an eradication campaign with support from regional organizations such as the Organismo Internacional Regional de Sanidad Agropecuaria (OIRSA) and the Interamerican Institute for Cooperación on Agriculture (IICA). The regional Guatemala-México-USA Moscamed Programme played a major role in assisting through technology transfer, which included the application of the Sterile Insect Technique (SIT) and other integrated pest management components. An international Technical Advisory Committee (TAC), chaired by FAO/IAEA, provided technical oversight beginning in September 2015. The last fly was detected in January 2017 and official eradication was announced in July 2017 after six generations had passed with no detections of the pest. The Dominican Republic is now on the list of countries that have successfully eradicated the Mediterranean fruit fly and has substantially strengthened its fruit fly surveillance system and emergency response capacity.
