Mosquitoes have been a bane to humans for eons. Actually the genera has been around for more than 100 million years. In our beach environment around Ocean Beach and on Fire Island the nuisance level is mainly a day-to-day situation depending on the weather and tides. The occasional heavy rain adds to the breeding areas. Mosquitoes need about 4-5 days of standing water. Hot weather and shallow, warmer puddles reduce the time needed. Mosquito control in general boils down to reducing standing water in which the larvae develop. Adulticiding is only effective short-term and in health emergency situations.

History
Mosquito control in the 1930's meant ditching. Public Works dug thousands of miles of ditches  into the saltwater-marshes in an attempt to dry them. The result of that was a loss of many species living in this environment.  Then DDT was used heavily. The effect on the environment was again the loss of many ecosystems, because DDT was a systemic pesticide. Eventually DDT was banned for it's long lasting toxicity in the 60's. Ditching continued until recessions and the resulting shortages of money and man-power almost completely gutted Long Island' Vector Control Departments.

Current Efforts
Today, Vector Control (Suffolk County Vector Control is responsible for Ocean Beach )has regained some prominence and is leading the mosquito effort. The measures are limited today first to the most non-toxic biological agents, then to the more toxic adulticides. Ditching with it's original goals of drying out wetland is not performed.

Today's efforts can be categorized into the following:

Reduction of Suitable Breeding Habitat  -  Educational Program
Many institutions are involved in the educational programs. Starting with the Vector Control Departments, University Cooperative Extensions (such as Cornell), Community Associations, the Village of Ocean Beach etc.  I believe that the effort more and more is aimed at educating the public to use the least toxic means first. Many people, mostly due to lack of understanding of the issues say: "The mosquitoes are terrible this year. Why don't they spray!"  The question is spray with what? Then, What are the regulatory/government regulations. For example, Fire Island National Seashore ( FINS ) has a national policy that says: No interference on National Park Property. Since all of our communities abut FINS, large areas are excluded from treatment. State EPA regulations: Much of Saltaire is mapped as freshwater wetlands. No spraying with adulticides is allowed. Community regulations: Fair Harbor and Ocean Beach are on record for not wanting adulticiding.

Ocean Beach and many of the other communities have educational programs informing homeowner and residents of their options. These are all the activities all of us should undertake around our homes. Some people of course will say: "What I do will have no impact." That may be, but if everybody pulls together, results will follow. I believe that based on anecdotal evidence the communities together with Vector Control were successful. Employees of Vector Control report that the number or percentage of fresh-water breeding mosquitoes is low, when compared to salt-water breeding mosquitoes (early summer 1998).

Wetland
Ditching undertaken since the early 1930's have had some success at the cost of damaging or destroying ecosystems and habitat. In the winter of 1997/98   660 acres of salt-water marshes around the Great South Bay have been restored with the help of several agencies and organizations including Ducks Unlimited a 700,000 member strong group whose goal it is to restore habitat for water fowl. Ditches now can be engineered to drain marshes and puddles can be deepened into ponds to create habitat for Gambusia Affins and Killifish, fish that devour hundreds of larvae an hour.

Under Construction!

Larviciding Programs
Fresh-Water

Salt-Water

Link to: Rutgers Mosquito FAQ
         Mosquito Myst Link (What's not working)

Every effort has been made to provide correct, complete and up-to-date pest management information for New York State in this publication. Changes in pesticide regulations thus occur constantly, and human errors are still possible. These recommendations are not a substitute for pesticide labeling. Before using any product, chemical, or pesticide, read carefully, understand, and follow strictly any instructions on the product label. The above information has been obtained from sources believed to be reliable. Neither Ocean-Beach.com nor any employees of Ocean-Beach.com have verified the correctness of any information contained herein.

 Revised: 11/09/2002