When the Fraser River runs high like it did this past spring, the nuisance mosquitoes tend to come out across the Fraser Valley a few weeks later.
When they start biting, some ask the perennial question of why officials don’t spray.
But staff with the Fraser Valley Regional District mosquito-control contractors, Morrow Bioscience Ltd., do not conduct pesticide spraying or fogging to kill flying mosquitoes - ever.
In fact, there are no municipalities in the Lower Mainland that spray for mosquitoes.
Instead they target them at the larval stage, before they hatch, with an environmentally friendly larvicide.
Every year hundreds of hectares of Fraser floodwaters get treated by Morrow Bioscience staff starting in May. They use a granular larvicide called Bti, dropped from a helicopter, or ladled into the water by hand. Technicians will also wade or paddle into swampy areas to treat them.
Morrow Bioscience staff have been busy monitoring, mapping, and treating known breeding sites this summer, according to FVRD officials. That will reduce but not “eliminate” all of the pesky mosquitoes, they said.
Someone moving to Chilliwack Mountain recently asked locals on a Facebook page how bad mosquitoes actually were on the north side of town.
Dana Drope replied to the original poster: “It’s always bad this time of year. Chilliwack is surrounded by water: Vedder river on one side, Fraser river on the other, various sloughs and creeks in between. If you buy a place near water you’re going to get mosquitoes.”
Residents can also help by removing breeding sites:
• Eliminate standing water;
• Chlorinate swimming pools;
• Empty wading pools; and
• Cover rain barrels with fine mesh.
FVRD has a hotline to answer questions or to report an abundance of mosquitoes 1-888-733-2333 or email mosquitoes@fvrd.ca
READ MORE: Mosquito control means killing larva
READ MORE: 2018 was a bad year for mosquitoes
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