NAPLES, Fla. — The Collier County Mosquito Control District (CMCD) is using science in a new way to help reduce the local mosquito population — by releasing sterilized mosquitoes into the environment.
This week, CMCD released its first batch of fully sterilized male mosquitoes at the Aaron Lutz Public Park in Golden Gate City.
While these mosquitoes may look like any other, they can’t bite or reproduce. However, they can still mate with female mosquitoes. When those females lay eggs, the eggs will not hatch — a method experts say helps cut down future mosquito populations.
WATCH AS MOSQUITO CONTROL RELEASES THE MOSQUITOES IN GOLDEN GATE CITY:
“We're trying to release the male mosquitoes before the drastic increase in the mosquito population that we see in the summertime,” said Keira Lucas, deputy executive director of CMCD. “We're targeting specifically Aedes aegypti. We usually start to see that increase around the beginning of March, then it gets really high through the summer and tapers off by October," she added.
Mosquito Control plans to release sterile mosquitoes weekly for the next 28 weeks, covering the region’s rainy season.
Mosquito Control says this new technique won’t replace traditional mosquito control efforts for now but will be used alongside them to enhance population management and help limit the spread of mosquito-borne diseases.
LEE COUNTY USING THE SAME TECHNIQUE:
