Oriental Fruit Flies Found in La Costa

By Ed Joyce / Reporter, KPBS Public Broadcasting

Published September 11, 2008 at 10:49 AM PDT

This story was published more than 15 years ago.

Another agricultural pest has been found in San Diego County. Two male Oriental fruit flies were trapped in the La Costa area in Carlsbad.

Another agricultural pest has been found in San Diego County.

Two male Oriental fruit flies were trapped in the La Costa area in Carlsbad.

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County Agricultural Commissioner Bob Atkins says the flies can ruin fruit, vegetables and plants.

Atkins: For both backyard fruit and the farmer the Oriental fruit fly will attack over 230 different types of fruit. Citrus and peaches for people in the backyards are among the important ones.

He says damage from the Oriental fruit fly happens when the female lays eggs inside the fruit.

The eggs then hatch into maggots that tunnel through the flesh of the fruit making it unfit to eat.

Food mixed with pesticide will be applied to poles and trees starting tomorrow to kill the flies before they mate.

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Ed Joyce

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Ed Joyce was the environment reporter and afternoon news anchor for KPBS-FM. Before joining KPBS, he worked as an editor/columnist with Copley News Service in San Diego. Ed has an extensive background in newspaper, radio, web and TV journalism. After graduating with a B.A. in Communications from the University of Washington in Seattle, Ed began a career in broadcast journalism. His work has included stints in public broadcasting, commercial broadcasting and education -- working as an affiliate professor of communication and reporter at the University of Idaho and Washington State University in Pullman, Wash. During the past 20 years he has worked in radio, TV and print as a news reporter, anchor, writer, editor and producer. Along the way he has won numerous awards for general news reporting, newswriting, feature and issue reporting and breaking news reporting from The Associated Press, The Society of Professional Journalists, San Diego Press Club and other organizations. During the mid-1990s, while working for Oregon Public Broadcasting, he was a frequent contributor to National Public Radio, including a feature report on the memorial service for 14 U.S. Forest Service "hotshots" who died fighting a wildfire in Colorado (the crew was based in a central Oregon town). He’s also filed reports with Marketplace, KQED’s California Report and Climate Watch and with national and regional networks throughout the United States. At KPBS, Ed continues his contributions to National Public Radio and other national and regional news organizations. He has won awards from the Society of Professional Journalists and San Diego Press Club for his environmental reporting at KPBS-FM-TV and for producing and anchoring radio newscasts. In 2007 he was selected a National Press Foundation fellow for Understanding Violent Weather II program. The seminars were held at the National Weather Center in Norman, Okla. In 2008 he spoke at a UC San Diego conference on U.S. National Security as part of the school’s Institute on Global Conflict and Cooperation. Ed led a discussion with the 18 foreign government officials and academics about the political debate over climate change. In 2010, Ed was elected to a three-year term on the board of the San Diego Press Club.

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