Provided by Dr. Marion Fuller
Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services (FDACS)

Report Dated 08/05/98

Sebring

Traps: There are 4,423 traps deployed in a 207 square mile survey area: 3433 Jackson, 273 McPhail, and 717 yellow panel traps.

Treatment: Ground crews continue treatments in buffered areas around exclusion sites. The fourth treatment for the northern block, and third treatment for the southern block are scheduled for Saturday morning, August 8, pending favorable weather conditions.

As you may recall, at the start of this program, EPA has granted permission for a total of four aerial bait treatments. I understand that USDA has submitted a request for an additional four treatments, to complete the eradication program in hopes of lifting quarantine prior to the holiday season, when many growers will be wanting to ship fruit. I'll let you know the outcome as soon as we hear from EPA.

Environmental Monitoring: The following results are from samples collected after the third bait treatment on August 4, 1998. Recall that the pre-treatment samples were discarded due to the mix-up at Fed Ex. (Samples were 48 hours late, and were not maintained at an appropriate temperature.)

Lake Sebring	0.41 ppb
Dinner Lake	0.67 ppb
Little Red	0.1 - 0.3 ppb (between the MDL and PQL)
Denton	0.1 - 0.3 ppb (between the MDL and PQL)
Little Bonnet	0.66 ppb
Jackson Canal	BDL
Red Beach	0.1 - 0.3 ppb (between the MDL and PQL)

All samples were below detection limits (BDL) for malaoxon

The detection limits (MDL) and Practical Quantitation Limit (PQL) for both malathion and malaoxon remaining unchanged at 0.1 ppb and 0.3 ppb respectively

Drift card results from the same sampling event:

• Dinner Lake: BDL at water's edge, positive at 50m, 100 m, and 150 meters from water's edge.
• Little Red: Positive (trace) at water's edge, 50 m, and 100 meters from water's edge; BDL at 150 meters from water's edge.
• Red Beach: BDL at water's edge; positive (trace) at 50 meters; BDL at 100 meters, and positive (trace) at 150 meters from waters edge

Mussel deaths: According to folks at EPA, USGS, and St. John's River Water Management District, here's some additional information: General info: Some species of mussels experience periodic die-offs, for reasons not well understood at this time. Die-offs with Corbicula are not uncommon, and have been reported in other Florida systems. Corbicula is an introduced species - and is considered a pest for water cooling towers, similar, though not as problematic, to the zebra mussel. Impacts of Corbicula in aquatic systems is not well known, but some scientists believe it is replacing less competitive native species. Regarding malathion and mussel toxicity - the individuals contacted did not suspect malathion to be causative, looking at comparative toxicity in other mussel species. Reported toxicity in other mussel species are generally several orders of magnitude greater than those we've seen in Lake Sebring (and other lakes in the eradication program). As additional information is made available, it will reported in these updates.

Health monitoring: No report

FDACS - Division of Plant Industy: Mediterranean fruit fly information
USDA APHIS: Mediterranean fruit fly information
UF/IFAS Fact Sheet ENY-809: The Mediterranean Fruit Fly
UF/IFAS Fact Sheet ENY-626: Mediterranean Fruit Fly: What Floridians Need To Know