“If we were where we are right now, with what we’ve got, we would have eradicated this insect back in 2013, 2014,” said Michael Melzer of the University of Hawaii Coconut Rhinoceros Beetle Response team. Money remains the persistent hurdle to containing or eradicating the insects and has been the case in Hawaii up until very recently. Environmental Protection Agency so currently it can only be used by approved research organizations.Īndrea Blas of Guam’s CRB Management Program says there’s no reason why the EPA would not approve the fungus for general use, other than that it would “cost millions” to go through the process. The fungus called metarhizium majus, has shown promise according to Guam Department of Agriculture, killing off between 20% and 50% of the treated beetles. “Impacts on coconuts will obviously impact people.”Ī beetle trapped in Tekken gill netting, a technique developed by researchers in Guam and now used in Hawaii.ĭespite funding issues, a number of projects are underway there to control the insect, including pesticides, detector dogs, traps and a nonpathogenic fungus that has been used on breeding sites. “As we say within the Pacific, the coconut is the ‘tree of life’ and virtually all parts of the coconut are utilized for something,” Ero said. The government there ordered a temporary halt to shipments to other coconut-producing isles so the scarabs couldn’t hitch a ride.ĭried coconut, copra, and coconut oil exports From Vanuatu were worth nearly $9 million in 2021 alone, according to The Observatory of Economic Complexity and coconut plays a key role in the country’s food security. The strategy was to make the potential beetle breeding sites as inhospitable as possible and educate the public on how they could help contain the pest on the main island of Efate. (Courtesy: SPC/2023)Ĭlimate change’s direct impacts on humans are well accounted for in the Pacific but the residual effects of natural disasters create even more pathways for these invasive pests.Įro was in the country post-cyclone leading a project team dedicated to the beetle, an effort of an intergovernmental organization called the Pacific Community. Vanuatu government staff and SPC staff assess an artificial nesting site for coconut rhinoceros beetle, identified as a key ecological risk in the wake of two cyclones that hit the South Pacific nation in recent months. That detritus and fallen logs are ideal breeding habitat for the coconut rhinoceros beetle, a pest that already threatens the country’s coconut crops at the best of times. “It looked completely different, just like a bushfire may have gone through and burned up all the vegetation,” Ero said in an interview. When entomologist Mark Ero arrived days after the Category 4 cyclones, he was on the ground alongside humanitarian relief teams but his focus was on the dead vegetation carpeting Vanuatu’s main island. Vanuatu was trampled by twin cyclones in early March that tore roofs off buildings, severed communication lines, made running water undrinkable and cut electricity. Pacific neighbors are fighting back against the coconut rhinoceros beetle, and there are lessons for Hawaii.
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