Officials Work to Control Mosquito Population

Over the next two weeks the Delaware Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control's campaign to keep you happy during the spring and summer months will begin with a coordinated effort to control the spring woodland pool mosquito.  

"We'll go and inspect those wood lots see how many larva are there and once we find that out we'll see what areas we can treat effectively and then we'll take the helicopter and treat those and we have to get it down before the leafs impede our progress," said Paul Zarebicki, an environmental scientist.  

For experts within the Division of Fish & Wildlife this first two-week long effort is important because it targets one of the area's biggest pests.  

"Our larvacide efforts for woodland pool mosquitoes are extremely effective. They're very susceptible to what we are using. It's a bacterial insecticide and we are getting 80-100 percent control rate of the larvae that are in the water so very effective," said Zarebicki.  

It isn't the Asian Tiger mosquito which is known internationally and locally for spreading disease like west nile and zika but they are still a huge problem on the peninsula.  

"This species of mosquito is not a huge disease issue it's more of a pestiferous or a problem," said Zarebicki. "They are a very aggressive mosquito for people that live in and near these wet wood lots which as you know Delmarva is a pretty wet state."  

That aggression and their pesky nature has the Mosquito Control Section working overtime to ensure that residents have a better summer and if the weather holds there could be more money for efforts to control other pests.