USDA Response to South Florida Giant African Snail Infestation

United States Department of Agriculture
Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service
Plant Protection and Quarantine

The USDA’s Response to the

Latest South Florida Giant
African Snail Infestation
Frederick J. Zimmerman, David G. Robinson
and Amy Roda

American Malacological Society Meeting
June 18, 2012

Background
• United States except Hawaii was considered Achatinidae-
free
• Some of the previous area introductions
• North Miami, Florida, 1969- Discovered in suburban
gardens; 3 juvenile Lissachatina fulica (Bowdich) snails
(GAS) introduced 1966 by young boy carrying these in
his pants pocket returning from Hawaii; killed 18,000
snails and enumerable eggs; 1973 declared successfully
eradicated; eradication costs = $1 million over a ten year
period
• Late 2009, GAS reported in Hialeah, Fl.
USDA notified of potential Miami infestation

• September 8, 2011 USDA notified by FL DOACS possible
GAS
• Field observation and confirmation by USDA- September 9,
2011
• Initial Response
• Activate Incident
Command System
• Delimitation Surveys
following NPRG
• Cooperative Agreement
Established
• Outreach Campaign
Infestation
• Miami-Dade County
only- Area = 2,431.26
square miles
(6,296.9 km2)
• Furthest cores- roughly
24 miles apart
• Since September, 2011-
15 defined cores
• As of 05/31/2012-
67,017 GAS from 301
positive properties
• No detections to date at
nurseries or stock dealers
What has been the regulatory response?

• Federal order- DA-2012-12, April 13, 2012; regulates move-
ment to prevent the dissemination of GAS
• Requirements:
• Established regulated areas in Miami-Dade County, Fl.
• Regulated articles:
• All life stages of Lissachatina fulica (Bowdich)
• Plants
• Plant parts
• Yard waste
• Any article capable of transporting or harboring
plant feeding snails, including solid debris, compost,
and building materials.
• Compliance agreements
USDA Personnel
• National- LPA, identifier, program leadership, regulations
(Federal order , environmental documentation to comply
with National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), etc.),
funding
• Regional- program leadership
• Local- program leadership, unified incident command,
liaison with FL DOACS, survey assistance, methods
development, interviewing residents
• Puerto Rico- two personnel to So. FL, acquire
identification, survey, control and other skills to teach in PR
Monetary Allocations
• USDA provides funding to FL DOACS under a cooperative
agreement
Program Coordination
• Weekly conference calls with
PPQ and FL DOACS
Outreach to Impacted
Areas- Important for core ID
• Snail blog
• Look For It. Report It
Campaign
• Bus signs
• Billboards
• Radio and newspaper
ad’s
Outreach (continued)
• Television
• Local (English/Spanish)
• CBS Sunday Morning
• News
• International
• CNN- Philippe Cousteau
• Internet- You Tube
Outreach (continued)
• Legislative & Public Affairs
(LPA)
• Pest alerts
• Identification cards
• Posters
• Videos
• Activity Sheets
Outreach (continued)- Natural Areas Workshop

• Tribes
• Miccosukee
• Seminole
• Audubon Society
• Everglades National Park
• Zoo Miami
• Tropical and Botanical Gardens
• National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration
• Utilities: Electric, Telephone and Water Companies
• Fish and Wildlife Departments
• City, County, State and Federal governments
• Colleges
• Others
Outreach (continued)- Public Relations/Teaching Events

• Audience exceeds 20,000 for FY 2012
• GAS (Dead) Across America Program- Sent to Identifiers,
recruiters, area managers, agriculture department managers,
UnderSecretary.
• Schools- Career days, Earth days
• 4-H Programs
• Orchid Shows
• Fairs
• Bring Your Kids To Work Day
• Summer Day Camps
• Internships
• Junior Detectives
• Others
Preemptive Monitoring
• Development of the Offshore Pest Information System
(OPIS) Mollusk Pest List- organisms become the focus of
safeguarding activities including preclearance, inspection at
ports of entry, exotic pest surveys, and eradication. Of the
mollusks, GAS = No. 1
• Cooperative Agriculture Pest Survey (CAPS)- surveys and
map development for natural areas surveying
Genetic Characterization of Miami’s GAS Population

• Coordinated DNA Analysis
• Determine possible origin
• Determine possible core associations
International Outreach
• Caribbean Safeguarding Initiative- Antigua, Aruba,
Barbados, Barbuda, Dominica,
Dominican Republic, Cayman
Islands, Grenada, Guadeloupe,
Haiti, Martinique, St. Lucia, St.
Vincent, Trinidad, and Tobago
• GAS Sentinel Program- Puerto
Rico and U. S. Virgin Islands
• Central and South America- Argen-
tina, Belize, Brazil, Chile, Colombia,
Costa Rica, Ecuador, El Salvador,
Honduras, Panama, Peru, &Venezuela
• Panama Canal Sentinel Program
Training
• Customs and Border
Protection (CBP), Plant
Protection and Quarantine
(PPQ), and other training
• New and refresher-
Agriculture Specialists
and Plant Health
Safeguarding Specialists
• Foreign visitors, visiting
U.S. politicians
• Survey and
identification personnel
Pathway Investigations/Anti-Smuggling
• Smuggling Interdiction and Trade Compliance (SITC)
• Mission- SITC focuses its anti-smuggling efforts at the
Ports of Entry and markets to prevent the establishment of
plant and animal pests and diseases, while maintaining the
safety of our ecosystems and natural resources.
• Interviews, inspections, verifications, detections, and
prevent unlawful entry and distribution
• Web crawler- searches Internet, blogs,
sales, auctions, chat rooms, etc. Gener-
ates reports for follow-up by SITC. Has
led to hundreds of seizures.
Methods Development– Detection and Survey

• Development of a trapping system: Studies to
determine if baited salt traps and copper traps
could serve as a tool to detect and/or control
GAS
• Results:
• Where >50 snails were previously hand
collected from an area of < 0.5 m, average 20
snails/trap/2 wk were caught, primarily
juveniles were trapped
• Avoid saline environments (water filled
salt traps
• Copper tape - easily traversed; Copper
sulfate- not easily traversed
Methods Development– Detection

and Survey
• Conclusions:
• In areas immediately
adjacent to high levels of
juvenile GAS infestations the
traps may help to
continuously remove snails.
• The trap system used was
not a useful detection tool.
• Still need an ‘escape proof’
trap
Methods Development- South FL GAS Reproductive

Study (ongoing)
• Coordinated by Center for
Plant Health Science Technology (CPHST)
• Determine the influence of South FL
seasonal conditions on GAS egg
production
• Determine the effect of eradication
efforts on egg production by comparison
of treated properties to new non-treated
properties
Methods Development
• Technical Work Group Panel- advises
program when technical questions arise
• $ support for several methods develop-
ment projects to FL DOACS
• Illegal garbage dumping site inspections
• Yard waste was present in low quantities
• No GAS detected, periodic follow-up visits were
recommended
• Some non-target species were detected indicating that the
environment could support GAS establishment
Methods Development- Detection and Survey

• Detector Dog Program- 8-week program, domestic
training specifically for GAS detection, Farm Bill funds,
mid-June
Methods Development– Pathway Analysis

• Composting Facility Sites- Virginia Key
• No GAS detected
• Raw material contained other non-target snails, none detected after
processing
• Damage from processing and heat
from decomposition less suitable
for snails
• Recommendations:
• Limit composting- from non-
infested areas only
• Conduct prophylactic bait treatments and monitoring
• Other- Solid waste & transfer facilities
For more information:

• USDA- http://www.aphis.usda.gov
• USDA Blog- http://blogs.usda.gov/?s=giant+african+snail
• SITC- http://www.aphis.usda.gov/sitc
• New Pest Response Guidelines-
http://www.aphis.usda.gov/import_export/plants/manuals/emergency/downloads/n
prg_gas.pdf
• GAS poster, pest alert, ID card and other outreach materials-
http://www.aphis.usda.gov/plant_health/plant_pest_info/gas/index.shtml
• Junior Detectives- http://www.freshfromflorida.com/pi/gals/junior-detectives.html
• To report suspect GAS- tel. 800-877-3835, or 888-397-1517
• No permits have been issued to import GAS. The regulations- 7CFR 330.200-212
For other permits- http://www.aphis.usda.gov/permits/index.shtml
• All links are subject to change

USDA Response to South Florida Giant African Snail Infestation

Uploaded by

Document Information

Original Title

Copyright

Available Formats

Share this document

Share or Embed Document

Sharing Options

Did you find this document useful?

Is this content inappropriate?

Copyright:

Available Formats

USDA Response to South Florida Giant African Snail Infestation

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

United States Department of Agriculture

Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service

Plant Protection and Quarantine

Plant Protection and Quarantine

The USDA’s Response to the

United States Department of Agriculture

American Malacological Society Meeting

June 18, 2012

Plant Protection and Quarantine

Plant Protection and Quarantine

USDA notified of potential Miami infestation

Plant Protection and Quarantine

Plant Protection and Quarantine

What has been the regulatory response?

Plant Protection and Quarantine

Plant Protection and Quarantine

Plant Protection and Quarantine

Plant Protection and Quarantine

Plant Protection and Quarantine

Plant Protection and Quarantine

Outreach (continued)- Natural Areas Workshop

Plant Protection and Quarantine

Outreach (continued)- Public Relations/Teaching Events

Plant Protection and Quarantine

Genetic Characterization of Miami’s GAS Population

Plant Protection and Quarantine

Plant Protection and Quarantine

Plant Protection and Quarantine

Plant Protection and Quarantine

Methods Development– Detection and Survey

Plant Protection and Quarantine

Methods Development– Detection

Plant Protection and Quarantine

Methods Development- South FL GAS Reproductive

Plant Protection and Quarantine

Plant Protection and Quarantine

Methods Development- Detection and Survey

Plant Protection and Quarantine

Methods Development– Pathway Analysis

Plant Protection and Quarantine

For more information:

You might also like