Mosquito Board, GTM to fund study

Mosquito Board, GTM to fund study



By PETER GUINTA
peter.guinta@staugustine.com
Publication Date: 05/15/09

ST. AUGUSTINE BEACH -- Anastasia Mosquito Control District board members Thursday voted 4-1 to join the Guana Reserve in paying for a biologist who would coordinate mosquito research and pesticide impacts on the environment.

Mike Shirley, Ph. D, manager of the 64,487-acre Guana Tolomato Matanzas National Estuarine Research Reserve, said the study could reduce "nontarget impacts," meaning the effects of pesticides on animals other than the mosquito.

"We'll be able to help prevent health effects on animals in the reserve while also preventing health effects from mosquitoes on humans," Shirley said.

Board member Jeanne Moeller said few state or federal agencies have teamed up with mosquito control districts.

"We'd be one of the few in the nation," she said.

The one-year contract between the Florida Department of Environmental Regulation and the district begins July 1.

Its terms say GTM Reserve will pay 70 percent of the biologist's $43,751 salary while the district pays 30 percent plus a full packet of benefits worth $13,450.

Dr. Rui-De Xue, district director and entomologist, said he "strongly recommended" the board approve the contract.

According to district documents, the joint effort would map mosquito breeding sites to reduce "the potential nuisance and public health concerns in the Ponte Vedra area" while also treating hatching sites with a chemical that affects only mosquito larvae.

District biological technicians Whitney A. Swan and Mike Smith released a joint letter of support for the project, saying, "Marsh restoration is very important in promoting a biologically sound environment. Working with the Guana team to restore the marsh, we can promote a healthy environment and provide insight into the restoration to reduce mosquito breeding."

Shirley said the GTM Reserve is used quite a bit by the public. One idea they've had is to set mosquito traps along the trail system to capture biting mosquitoes rather than spray them. Some mosquitoes not native to this country would be eliminated as part of invasive species control.

Moeller said, "Our applied research can really support this." She made a motion to approve the contract.

It passed 4-1 with board member John Sundeman voting against.

"We should have been doing this internally all along," he said.

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