Sheep blowfly eradication on Kangaroo Island

Sheep blowfly can cause flystrike, which is a disease that affects the health of sheep and wool, causing significant economic loss.

SARDI is leading a $3.45 million pilot program to produce sterile flies, aimed at eradicating sheep blowfly on Kangaroo Island.

This project is an initiative of the Local Economic Recovery Program which is jointly funded by the South Australian and Australian Governments under the National Disaster Recovery Funding Arrangements.

Sterile insect technique (SIT)

The first phase of the project is setting up a facility to develop a sterile insect technique (SIT) for sheep blowfly.

A SIT grows sterile male flies which mate with females in the field, resulting in the blowflies not being able to lay eggs. The technique is already widely used successfully for other fly species, such as fruit flies and screw-worm flies.

The next phase will include SIT blowfly releases on Kangaroo Island. Funding for this phase is being negotiated with third parties.

Benefits

A SIT program on Kangaroo Island will:

  • remove the need to use the traditional control methods of mulesing and jetting
  • reduce the risks of blowfly control chemicals for farmers.

This method is better for the animals and will help maintain Kangaroo Island’s clean green image. The project is expected to create 2 full-time and 5 part-time roles on the island.

The goal is to deliver large scale releases and eradicate sheep blowfly from Kangaroo Island over 4 to 5 years.

Contact

Maarten van Helden – SARDI Entomologist
Phone: 0481 544 429
Email: maarten.vanhelden@sa.gov.au

Page last reviewed: 14 Sep 2022

 


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