By Stephanie Froese

Black fly numbers up

Jul 21, 2011 | 6:29 AM

Not only are the mosquitoes bad, but the bigger, biting black flies have been out more than usual.
That is according to Shawn Meckelborg, program co-ordinator for the Black Fly Control Program for District #32, including Prince Albert, and surrounding area.

“We had a pretty good number of adults out there for the first two weeks of July,” Meckelborg said.
The black fly abatement had pretty good control of the rivers in the spring, but high water levels meant they could not apply treatment.

“We don’t have the budget as far as pesticides go nor the equipment to treat that amount of water,” Meckelborg said.

He said the summer has been a battle of too much water and waiting for it to go back down to normal.

On the North Saskatchewan River it’s has been reported as somewhat of an OK year partly because those high waters came through and left quickly.

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“That actually aids us. It does somewhat of a flush of the system,” Meckelborg said.

On the South Saskatchewan River over six weeks of high water has made the banks more difficult to treat.

“What happens is the black flies that are flushed away the new ones come in and re-habitat, begin to live on the habitat on the edges of the river and unfortunately you can’t treat just the edges you have to treat the entire body, which makes it impossible for us.”

That has led to the population growing over the past month, Meckelborg said, but he added he’s hopeful things will start to get better.

The waters have started to recede on the South Saskatchewan River, allowing Meckelborg and his team to get out over the past week to clean up a few areas with black fly treatment.

sfroese@panow.com