Hairy caterpillar ‘outbreak’ in Seychelles |30 March 2015

Proper study of pest needed before effective plan of action

The hairy caterpillar outbreak in Seychelles is a complex issue that needs careful study before it can be tackled properly and effectively.

“For us to be able to apply an eradication or control programme, we have to know what we are dealing with. What and how it eats; how it breeds for us to intercept its different phases and stop it from spreading or developing,” Marc Naiken, the chief executive of the Seychelles Agricultural Agency (SAA) said during a press conference on Friday.

Mr Naiken was shedding light on the public’s concerns with regard to what the country is doing to eradicate the hairy caterpillars discovered some months back which are causing rashes to humans.

The conference was held at the Division of Risk and Disaster Management  (DRDM) office at Global Village building at Mont Fleuri and was attended by various stakeholders involved in the control of the hairy caterpillar outbreak notably the DRDM and SAA themselves, health, tourism, national plant protection, the Ministry of Social Affairs, Community Development and Sports and the environment.

Falling back on all that has been done until now to combat the hairy caterpillars, Mr Naiken said since the pest was first detected in Seychelles, concerned parties have often met and a biological technical committee has been formed.

The committee has to evaluate the pest itself – what is it, how is it spreading in the country, where it is attacking and the plants affected and how they can deal with it.

“The SAA has taken the responsibility to send samples of the insect to Reunion and Australia for laboratory analysis and identification as we were not really sure what we were faced with regarding that insect,” said Mr Naiken.

“The identification was needed to confirm what we suspected and the test result has proven that we were on the right track,” he added.
The stakeholders also urged each and every one of us to give a helping hand in fighting the pest especially now that the population has already been given tips on how to deal with the pest while the research is ongoing.

“As it is a scientific and complex issue, we need to know the pest first as it is not just a question of rushing out in the environment and dealing with it. We also want to put across the message that each one of us should lend a helping hand – at home, in businesses -- we must all help in the fight against that outbreak,” said DRDM director general Paul Labaleine.

He said it is because we need to find out how best we can tackle the situation that all technicians concerned have come together.

Randy Stravens, principal officer of the National Plant Protection department, gave an overview of all the work that has been done so far.

As to questions whether this is a new pest that has been introduced in the country, Mr Stravens said it is a bit difficult to really ascertain that.

“Because we never had a recent survey in our environment or forest to prove what type of pests we have and what we do not have, compared to the agriculture section where there’s a readily available record of pests that are affecting that sector,” he said.

But it was discovered that it fell under the species Euproctis fratena and Euproctis pectina. According to Australia laboratory result Euproctis pectina already eists in Seychelles but Mr Stravens said there are no existing records.

The unit is concentrating its work in three main areas – services normally provided to the public where they visit, assist and assess all requests that come through their office where there are 205 in total; monitoring surveillance and research where they study the distribution and spread of the insect and the damage it is causing; and the third is laboratory diagnostics and studies where they have collected samples for overseas study to be able to identity what is really that pest that they are dealing with.

The monitoring and surveillance programme has also determined that there are 12 types of plants the pest is attacking: castor bean (tantan), Indiana Almond (bodanmyen), grenadine, golden apple (frisiter), rose apple (jamalac), cassi, bon bon plim, banana, mango, guava, drumstick tree (bred ti fey), and a tiny plant of yellow flowers. They are found on the whole of Mahé and some other islands like Praslin, La Digue, Ile au Cerf, to name some.

Recommended controlled products already available that people can use are Bacillus Thuringiensis and the agriculture sector has also already placed a command for a large consignment which will arrive soon. Other bio-pesticide in store are elimstek nimbis and nimba. Chemicals will be used as a last resort as uncontrolled use can have adverse effects on human health and the environment itself. The pest has also a tendency to develop resistence.

The unit has also worked in close collaboration with the Ministry of Education so that the school curriculum is not affected.

The way forward is each and everyone of us should help in this situation and take it as our responsibility and not only the government’s.