Island of Gaum Losing Rhino BeetleBattle

Jeremy Hunt - noemail@earthwormjobs.com — Fri, 17 Oct 2008 10:00:00 GMT

A little more than a year after local scientists began hunting the invasive species, the beetle has moved from Tumon to the north end of the island, into the jungle and onto military land.

Thousands of beetles and grubs were caught, poisoned or squashed in the last year, but the spread continues.

Yesterday, University of Guam Epidemiologist Aubrey Moore, said the chance to eradicate the beetle is "dwindling."

"It looks like the beetle is here to stay, so we will have to live with it," Moore said.

Moore said the rhino beetles bore into palm trees to eat their sap and reproduce. If they damage the "growing tip" of the tree, it will no longer sprout new fronds and the palm is doomed.

Moore said Guam's population of rhino beetles could explode and destroy half of Guam's palms in five years if left unchecked.

Quarter-sized holes -- evidence of a boring beetle -- are already a common sight on the beaches of Guam's northwest coast. Moore said the beetles have spread to Urunao and Mangilao. They aren't yet common down south.

After the beetle was first discovered in September of last year, a team comprised of UOG, Department of Agriculture and federal employees fought back in several ways, but nothing panned out as planned.

Roland Quitugua, operations chief for the eradication program, said funding was a problem.

In December, Gov. Felix Camacho signed made an emergency declaration so GovGuam's resources could be used to battle the beetle quickly.

Quitugua said a landscape contractor was hired in January to destroy and fumigate rotting and damaged trees, but they quit in May because payments from GovGuam weren't timely.

In August, Public Law 29-104 appropriated another $250,000 to the eradication project. Quitugua said the eradication effort hasn't gotten any of that money.

"What has been appropriated is one thing and what's released is another," Quitugua said. "We are competing for the same pot of money as the public school system."

Quitugua said the governor's office provided resources to help with the eradication efforts, but some personnel and vehicles that were promised never came.

Governor's spokesman Shawn Gumataotao said the office had consistently offered and given support to fighting invasive species. He said invasive species were a "top priority" of the governor.

Meanwhile, the beetle population has grown and the odds of stopping it have shrunk.

"We are not giving up in our efforts. We are still in eradication mode, but we are preparing to eventually move into control mode," Quitugua said.

Eradication Efforts
Hundreds of white bucket traps were dangled from trees across the island last year in hopes of capturing and containing the beetles.

Moore said yesterday the traps hadn't worked as well as expected. He knew beetles couldn't escape once they landed in the buckets, so the lure must have failed.

"Apparently, the trees are more attractive than the lure," he said.

Quitugua said the beetle lure is mostly used on plantations, where it doesn't have to compete with an available supply of dead coconuts.

Yesterday, Moore was working on developing an injectable pesticide strong enough to kill beetles in the ornamental coconut trees on the hotel strip in Tumon. He said each tree in Tumon could be worth $2,000.

"I don't have to tell you how important the coconut tree is to the hotels and tourism industry. It's kind of an icon," he said.

Even if he found a poison that was strong enough, it would be impossible to inject it islandwide. The pesticide would also make coconuts inedible. Other options included using a virus that specifically targets the beetles, and even using beetle-sniffing dogs to track down grubs, Moore said.

"My priority right now is to try and come up with some recommendations," he said.

If the rhino beetle becomes a permanent resident on Guam, Moore said the island will also inherit a new responsibility -- stopping its spread.

If it hides in a shipping container, Guam could accidentally export the invasive species. If it spreads to Hawaii, the beetle could devastate another tourism industry and cost millions, he said. If it spreads to Guam's tiny neighboring islands, it could do much worse.

"In those islands, the coconut tree is the tree of life," he said.

17-Oct-08 5:00 AM

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Island of Gaum Losing Rhino BeetleBattle