Mosquito Control Operations

The Commissioners recognize the necessity to use chemical control measures to reduce the impact of nuisance mosquitoes upon the residents and visitors of Monmouth County. We use only those products that are reviewed and recommended by the New Jersey Agricultural Experiment Station/Cook College/Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey. These products including the appropriate application rates are published on an annual basis in Insecticides for Mosquito Control in New Jersey. Pesticide usage is part of our surveillance based IPM approach to mosquito control. All products used are registered with both the USEPA and the NJDEP.

The professional staff of the MCMEC is continually striving to decrease our reliance on pesticides for controlling mosquito populations. When pesticide use is necessitated the staff uses registered larvicides and pupicides to remediate the problems.

Reliance on adulticides is infrequent and is considered to be necessary when adult mosquito populations create an excessive nuisance or public health problem.

GROUND LARVICIDING

The Commission maintains records on over 3,000 known mosquito-breeding locations within the County. The recorded locations are divided among three inspectors. During the active mosquito breeding season each inspector will be assigned additional two-person teams of seasonal employees, who have been trained by the assistant superintendent and the inspectors. The inspectors will provide a route list to each team on a daily basis. The route will be based on daily surveillance and monitoring.

Each team is assigned a vehicle equipped with a fifty gallon Essick hydraulic sprayer. The sprayer is filled on a daily basis with a dilute emulsion of Abate® 4E. The larviciders conduct larval mosquito surveillance at each carded location. The locations found to be breeding are treated appropriately.

In addition to Abate the vehicles are equipped with 3-gallon hand sprayers filled with Golden Bear Oil 1111®. Other products used for larviciding are Altosid® pellets and briquets. These products are used when deemed appropriate for larval and pupal control by the inspectors and the assistant superintendent.

AERIAL LARVICIDING

Since 1976 the Monmouth County Mosquito Extermination Commission has operated a helicopter owned by the Monmouth County Board of Chosen Freeholders. Currently the Commission operates a Bell 206-B III Jet Ranger Helicopter. The Pilot/Inspector and other staff members use the helicopter for surveillance. There are approximately 160 air blocks that the pilot inspects and treats on an as needed basis using Abate 5BG on Biodac.

In 1997 the Commissioners agreed to conduct field trials using Bti granular material. Climatic conditions never allowed these trials to take place. However, based on field testing by other mosquito control agencies the Superintendent has determined that granular Bti is an effective product for controlling floodwater mosquitoes, and has added it to the list of products used by commission personnel for larviciding. It is used to control early season mosquitoes in woodland pools and fresh floodwater areas and in non-tidal areas throughout the season.

The Commission is statutorily eligible for participation in the NJ State Mosquito Control. Commission Airspray Program. For the last 15 years we have not had the necessity to rely on aerial adulticiding. We will continue to properly advertise the possibility that there may be a time when aerial adulticiding is needed.

GROUND ADULTICIDING

When all other modalities have not brought about satisfactory control of nuisance mosquitoes the commission staff uses ground based adulticiding equipment. The commission has a Becomist® 1500 truck mounted ULV machine and two Electramist® truck mounted ULV machines. This state of the art adulticiding equipment is professionally calibrated during each spray season. The commission uses Fyfanon® (malathion) or Scourge® (resmethrin) based upon field determinations made by the assistant superintendent. The Commission also has a truck mounted thermal fogger, two hand held foggers and two hand held ULV generators. This equipment is used only for the purpose of controlling large populations of nuisance mosquitoes as determined by our surveillance and potential vector-borne diseases.

The Commissioners recognize that source reduction is not achieved by the use of pesticides and the professional staff is continually exploring alternate approaches to achieving more permanent methods of controlling mosquitoes.

BIOLOGICAL CONTROL

The Commissioners have ordered the staff to increase their reliance on biological control efforts. We have over 60 locations in the County where we utilize Gambusia affinis and fathead minnows to control mosquitoes. All potential stocking sites are surveyed by commission staff. Those locations found to be suitable for inclusion in the program are indexed and scheduled for stocking.

With the cooperation of the NJ State Mosquito Control Commission and the NJ Division of Fish, Game and Wildlife the fish are acquired, transported to the county, and placed in suitable locations. The assistant superintendent monitors the effectiveness of the program and maintains records of these locations. These operations follow the protocol established in the NJSMCC document entitled How to Use the State Bio-Control (Mosquitofish) Program for Mosquito Control in New Jersey.

REQUESTS FOR SERVICE

The public participation in the Monmouth County mosquito program is measured in part by the numbers of requests for service that the Commission receives. Years ago we realized that to consider these requests as complaints were not a truly descriptive term. An inspector, the assistant superintendent, environmental scientist, chief inspector or the superintendent responds to each call. The response is guaranteed within 48 hours of receipt. Calls that are received after our flexible working hours (7:00AM-5:30PM) are answered by an electronic answering machine. Callers are advised of our business hours and given emergency telephone numbers. The caller may also leave a voice message.

The commission has developed a vector control database for keeping records. We are hopeful that this database will give us more comprehensive information regarding mosquito breeding sites and responsive actions

RECORD KEEPING

The assistant superintendent is responsible for maintaining all records of surveillance and application of larvicides by commission employees. These records are kept in compliance with regulations promulgated by the NJDEP. (NJAC Title 7 Chapter 30 Subchapters 1-11).

Each season the Pilot/Inspector contacts the municipalities of Monmouth County. They are advised that it may be necessary for the commission to apply pesticides over their area using a helicopter. They are asked to give their consent to allow overflights of the respective communities. The commission realizes that municipal consent is only required for flying over "congested areas" as designated by the FAA, but we feel that the municipality should be a knowing partner in our activities. The local, police department is notified before any aerial applications of pesticide are made.

The Commission advertises in two newspapers having countywide circulation every 23 days during the active mosquito-breeding season, that commission staff may be required to aerially apply adulticides over certain areas of the County.

During August of 2000 the Monmouth County Freeholders adopted a Resolution allowing the Commission to apply pesticides by air over all areas of the County.

Continue here to read about larval mosquito surveillance

or here for to read about adult mosquito surveillance.

Mosquito Home Page • Adult Surveillance • Larval Surveillance • Mosquito-borne Diseases • Mosquito Biology • Home

Monmouth County Mosquito Extermination Commission
PO Box 162 • Eatontown • New Jersey • 07724
(Tel) 732-542-3630 • (Fax) 732-542-3267
mosquitoes@co.monmouth.nj.us