aerial spraying is "DEVASTATING " to non-target species

[rudy benavides]

In the late 1960s when my parents moved to the Ft. Myers, Florida area we 
became acutely aware of this situation.  At least once a week, the county 
there would dispatch a small squadron of DC-3s to fly back and forth across 
the area - at a pretty low altitude - and spray (fog) the place with BAYTEX. 
  I clearly remember how, when I was out jogging, and would hear the roar of 
the engines in the distance, my heart would race, and I would make a mad 
dash for home before the planes arrived overhead.

Our neighbor had a bait and tackle shop in town.  When the flights first 
started, and the windows in his shop had been left open, he found most of 
the live bait shrimp in his water tanks dead after a spraying.  He was 
caught unaware a few other times, and had similar results, until he finally 
called the city and was able to obtain information on their (erratic) flight 
schedules.  After that, he made sure his windows were shut on spraying days, 
and the incidents never re-occurred.

On nearby Sanibel Island, which is in great part a wildlife sanctuary made 
up of federal and private preserves, naturalists there fought to have the 
flights in and round the island halted.  I remember reading at the time how 
large numbers of bees, dragonflies, birds, fish, and crustaceans were found 
dead on Sanibel on the days following a spraying.  Today, mosquito 
management at the National Wildlife Refuge on Sanibel includes the presence 
of tiny Gambusia affinis, mosquito fish in dikes constructed to impound 
water all year round.  The fish feed on the larva, and the water also forces 
the mosquitos to oviposit on dry land that eventually is flooded by tides or 
by rainfall.  This has worked out very well on the refuge, and I have not 
encountered mosquito problems when I have visited there at different times 
of the year.

Rudy Benavides
Maryland
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