Federal and state agriculture officials on Nov. 14 removed the Mexican fruit fly (Mexfly) quarantine in Brownsville, Cameron County, Texas. The quarantine was removed after three generations elapsed with no additional detections in the area. The action was taken by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) and the Texas Department of Agriculture (TDA). This action releases the final 42.91 square miles of the Brownsville Mexfly quarantine, which contained no commercial citrus acreage.
APHIS and TDA established the original Harlingen-Brownsville, Cameron County quarantine following the confirmed detections, between Jan. 14 and Feb. 3, 2020, of 79 adult Mexflies and 14 Mexfly larval sites in citrus from various residential areas and 12 commercial groves in Cameron County, Texas. Subsequently, between Feb. 4 and Feb.11, 2020, APHIS confirmed additional detections of 16 Mexfly adults and 16 larval sites in this area.
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