The Bay of Plenty's kiwifruit industry is nervously awaiting developments in Auckland in the hope that the Queensland Fruit Fly population discovered in Grey Lynn is isolated and eradicated.

Alister Hawkey, executive director of Te Puke postharvest operator Trevelyan's, says now is a very anxious time for all players in the industry.

Concerns have grown following the discovery of a fruit fly in Auckland. Photo: File.

'It appears that what we have in Auckland is an incursion of insects, but we are expecting it to be localised,” he says.

However, the fact the insect, which is a threat to a wide range of fruit and vegetable crops, was able to enter New Zealand, is of great concern says Alister.

Trevelyan's has finished processing avocados for export and is preparing for the kiwifruit harvest in a few weeks, but Alister says there is never a good time to find pests which could affect exports.

'The biosecurity concerns are year round,” he adds.

Staff from Trevelyan's will be joining the Ministry for Primary Industry's response teams in Auckland next week.

On Saturday, five quality control staff from Katikati post-harvest company Apata Limited went to Auckland as part of a team of 20 provided through KiwiNet - the kiwifruit industry's network of people able to respond to biosecurity incidents.

Neil Cameron of Apata says the staff are already experienced in pest identification and yesterday underwent further training before joining response teams in the field.

Peter Mourits, operations manager for Kiwifruit Vine Health, says the 20 KiwiNet staff, which includes many from South Auckland, are part of a wider 190-strong response team coordinated by Assure Quality on behalf of MPI.

Peter Ombler, chairman of KVH, which is leading the kiwifruit industry's response to the incursion, remains confident the insects will be eradicated, just as the Mediterranean Fruit Flies found in Auckland in 1996 where.

'We are still waiting to see how this plays out but it appears to be a population from a single incident,” explains Peter.

While the response to the insects is robust and effective, Peter says the system is being tested far too often. The current incident is the fourth in three years and once again puts New Zealand's $5 billion horticulture industry at risk.

Fruit fly numbers are increasing on the Australian sea board and Peter says while movement of people and fruit from Australia can't be stopped, how New Zealand deals with the threats needs more attention.

So far the countries New Zealand exports kiwifruit to are watching developments carefully, but none have yet moved to close their borders to our exports.

MPI has announced changes at the border, and although they do not include the 100 per cent baggage x-ray HortNZ the industry has been calling for, HortNZ president Julian Raine says they are a significant improvement and 'we will welcome these additional measures. We will talk more about this once the response is over”.

Information about the Queensland fruit fly and the exclusion zones are on the MPI website at: http://www.biosecurity.govt.nz/pests/queensland-fruit-fly