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Rota seeks feds assistance to fend off slugs
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Posted on Jan 02 2005
The population explosion of harmful slugs on Rota has worsened, prompting the island’s lawmakers to seek federal assistance to curb the increasing number of the agricultural pest.
“They have occupied almost the entire island of Rota,” said Isidoro T. Cabrera, agricultural consultant to the Northern Marianas College’s Cooperative Research, Extension, and Education Service.
Cabrera, who visited that island about two weeks ago, said the Rota delegation has asked Washington Rep. Pete A. Tenorio to source out federal funding to help curb the slug population.
“The farmers are using chemical bait and snail bait to reduce the population in the farms,” Cabrera said. “They are concerned because slugs are eating vegetables.”
Some four months ago, CREES raised an alarm over the presence of millions of Cuban slugs—scientifically known as Vernicella cubenis—on Rota. In a field survey conducted during that time, a CREES team spotted about 300 slugs on a papaya tree.
Tropical horticulturist Mark J. Bonin of Rota’s CREES stressed the need for the government to strengthen quarantine efforts.
Bonin said the Cuban slugs on Rota are believed to have come from Hawaii and Guam. The pests are believed to have reached Hawaii through importation of ornamental plants about 15 years ago.
Cabrera said, though, that the slug population on Rota might decline as the dry season approaches. Cabrera said the slugs hibernate during that time.
Meanwhile, Cabrera said no Cuban slug has been found so far on Saipan. Sometime in November, he said slug specimens from Saipan were taken to the laboratory to determine whether they are harmful pests like those found on Rota. Cabrera said the tests yielded negative results.
