The Regional Symposium on the Management of Fruit Flies in Near East Countries, Hammamet, Tunisia, 6-8 November 2012, was organized jointly by FAO, FAO-IAEA, AAEA, NEPPO, IOBC North Africa Commission, DG Plant Protection in Tunisia and the Tunisian Association of Plant Protection (ATPP).

The symposium included several key speakers, oral presentations, posters, a round table and a field trip, and dealt mainly with the following issues:

• brief background, history and geographical distribution of fruit flies;
• biology, ecology, life cycle, host preferences and nature of damage of fruit flies;
• detection and phytosanitary measures (pathways);
• management strategies:
  -     surveillance;
  -     semiochemicals (mass trapping, bait stations);
  -     sanitation (good agricultural practices);
  -     Sterile Insect Technique (SIT);
  -     Male Annihilation Technique (MAT);
  -     chemical control (present status of available active substances);
• contingency measures to respond to outbreaks;
• problems outside the Near East region, especially in Africa, Asia and South Europe;
• round table: conclusions, recommended IPM-fruit flies strategies;
• technical and tourist trip to Cap bon (Centre Technique des Agrumes – CTA), Tunisia.

The symposium provided a common forum for researchers, regulatory authorities, experts from extension services or advisory bodies, and the crop protection industry, NGOs, and many private sector and regional organizations, etc. It was a good occasion to share knowledge on fruit fly biology, phytosanitary and control measures, particularly surveillance/ monitoring, gaps and IPM strategy. Therefore, the available information related to the integrated management (IPM) of fruit flies was collected from different parts of the globe but especially from the Mediterranean region.

More than 100 participants took part in the symposium, coming from 23 countries in the Middle East, North Africa, Europe, Africa and Asia.

The activities of the symposium were developed according to the attached agenda (see below). The symposium took place under the patronage of HE Minister of Agriculture in Tunisia who opened the symposium in the presence of a representative of the FAO Sub-regional Office for North Africa in Tunisia (SNE), the DG of Plant Protection in Tunisia as well as the representatives of different regional organizations participating in the symposium.

A summary on the different sessions is attached in Annex II and abstracts as well as presentations in the Annex III.
All the information related the Symposium, including the agenda and list of participants, are uploaded on the website of FAO-AGP, RNE, FAO-IAEA, AAEA, NEPPO, IOBC and other organizers.

Introduction/background - Abstract - Agenda - List of participants

Session 1 - Biology, Ecology and Population Dynamics(I)

Mekki Chouibani
Fruit flies and role of regional plant protection organization in minimizing their impact

Khaled Alrouechdi, Shoki Aldobae
A look at fruit flies species in Near East countries

Samira Mohamed Faris, Sunday Ekesi, Fathiya Khamis
Biology and management of fruit flies in Africa and their potential impact in Near East countries (Keynote presentation)
   

Session 2 - Biology, Ecology and Population Dynamics (II)

Ahmed H. El-Heneidy
Status of the peach fruit fly, Bactrocera zonata (Saunders) and its control measures in Egypt

Esam Eldin B. M. Kabbashi, Osman E. Nasr
Effect of guava fruit colour and size on fruit fly incidence in Khartoum State

Saeed A. Ba-Angood, Nasir Kh. Sunaid
Ecological studies on the peach/mango fruit fly Bactrocera zonata (Saunders) Tephritidae: Diptera) in Lahij Governorate, Republic of Yemen

Tawfiq M. Al-Antary, Muna Salem Al-Faweer, Muhammad Adel Eftayeh
Comparative study between nine trapping techniques for monitoring the medfly in citrus orchard in Jordan

Session 3 - Biology, Ecology and Population Dynamics (III)

Nikos T. Papadopoulos
Geographic distribution, population dynamics and management of the Mediterranean fruit fly Ceratitis capitata (Wiedemann) (Diptera: Tephritidae) in northern Mediterranean countries

Sanja Radonjic
Current status of the Mediterranean fruit fly in Montenegro

Session 4 - Control methods- Cultural and biocontrol

Abderrahim El Keroumi, K. Naamani, N. Zhar, A. Dahbi
La fourmi Monomorium subopacum (Formicidae) agent de control biologique de la mouche méditerranéenne des fruits Ceratitis capitata (Tephritidae) dans la forêt d’arganier au sud-ouest du Maroc

Larry Vaughan, Kémo Badji
Status of the management of the invasive fruit fly Bactrocera invadens in Senegal

Sobhy Temerak, M. Lysandrou, A. Moussa, A. Chloridis, P. Nagy
Spinosad bait, an organic green bio-insecticide to combat the cucurbit fly, Dacus ciliatus (Loew) and the peach fly, Bactrocera zonata (Saunders)  (Diptera: Tephritidae) in Egypt

Sylvia Blümel
IPM activities of IOBC-WPRS for the control of fruit flies (Tephritidae) in Europe (Keynote presentation)

  
Session 5 - Control methods- Chemical control

Hasanein Yousuf Abdul Raheem
The geographical distributions of Mediterranean fruit fly Ceratitis capitata (Wiedeman) (Diptera:Tephritidae) and its management in Iraq

Hossein Noori, H. Heidary
The olive fruit fly, Bactrocera oleae Gmelin (Dip: Tephritidae), management in Iran

Session 6 - Control methods- Mass trapping and bait stations

Dr. Mounir Hassani
Attract & kill (AA L&K) Cerat: New solution based on attract and kill technology to control the Mediterranean fruit fly

Rui Pereira, Jorge Hendrichs, Jesus Reyes, Marc Vreysen
Area-wide integrated pest management of tephritid fruit flies using the sterile insect technique (Keynote presentation)

Senda Boulahia Kheder, I. Trabelsi, M. Tlemsani, F. Jrad
The IPM based on mass-trapping: is it an efficient method to control the medfly Ceratitis capitata (Diptera, Tephritidae)

Sarra Bouagga, Nayem Hassan, Adel Jammazi, Monia B.H. Kamel
Evaluation of Ceranock attract and kill and Femilure mass trapping strategies to combat Mediterranean fruit fly, Ceratitis capitata in Tunisia

Session 7 - Control methods- MAT and SIT

Mario Bjelis, L. Popovic, I. Marusic, S. Gakic, I. Buljubasic, A. Ivanovic, P. Arnaut, R. Pereira
Suppression of medfly by SIT in Neretva river valley of Croatia

Heitham Hamden, Meriem M’saad Guerfali, Salma Fadhl, Mouldi Saidi, Claude Chevrier
Fitness improvement of mass-reared sterile males of Ceratitis capitata (Vienna 8 strain) after gut enrichment with probiotics

Session 8 - Genetics, Quarantine and Post-harvest Treatments

Raida A. A. Al-Awamleh
Vapour heat treatment against tephritid fruit flies: Approval of Egyptian facility by Jordanian Phytosanitary Authority

Nagat Mubarak El Tayeb
Phytosanitary treatments for Ceratitis capitata (Wiedemann) (Diptera: Tephritidae) and other fruit flies important to Near East Region

F. Petter
EPPO's Recommendations, Standards and Information  on Fruit Flies