Image: Supplied by Pexels / A B.C. company is tackling the active mosquito presence in Chilliwack by ground and by air.

By Mike Vanden Bosch

Chilliwack mosquitoes

B.C. company tackling Chilliwack-area mosquitoes by ground and air

Jul 16, 2022 | 11:53 AM

CHILLIWACK — There’s a pesky reason mosquitoes are making life miserable for Chilliwack residents during the summer months.

An extremely wet spring, coupled with high and sustained near-peak Fraser River levels, are creating an ideal backdrop for active floodwater mosquitoes.

Rossland, B.C.-based Morrow BioScience personnel predict the majority of adult floodwater mosquitoes emerged within a week after the peak of the Fraser River, which was measured on July 4.

Contingent upon air temperatures, floodwater mosquitoes are then expected to be present for approximately three weeks after they emerge. If air temperatures are higher than average, mosquitoes tend to cycle through their life spans more quickly.

Morrow BioScience provides mosquito abatement services for the Fraser Valley Regional District. The company is actively monitoring and treating hatching sites where it aims to control mosquitoes at the larval stage before they take flight and become flying adults.

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“We are treating all floodwater mosquito habitat within the Fraser Valley Regional District by ground and by air,” said Shaun Calver, Morrow BioScience operations manager. “Our crews are monitoring sites regularly and responding to information from residents regarding potential new seepage sites.”

Morrow BioScience is actively working to reduce the incidence of larvae hatching into adult mosquitoes. However, Chilliwack-area residents should expect anticipated levels of mosquito annoyance over the next few weeks, Calver says.

Residents can stock up on bug spray, repair holes in household screens, and dump standing water around homes, often pooling from birdbaths, old tires, clogged gutters, animal troughs, and kiddy pools. Standing water can produce other types of mosquitoes that add to the overall mosquito population.

Residents can contact the Fraser Valley Regional District’s mosquito hotline to report an enhanced presence of adult mosquitoes. Call 1-888-733-2333 or email mosquitoes@fvrd.ca.