News from the Mosquito Control Unit
About the article
This is a digitised version of an article from The Cayman Compass's print archive. Occasionally, the digitisation process introduces transcription errors, or other problems.
See the article in its original context from September 1967.
Brought to you by
Vero Beach is a town of about 10,000 people, situated next to the coast but separated from the ocean by what is called the Indian River which is really a lagoon running the full length of the State. Both sides of the river are mangrove marshes, only differing from ours in that there are some slightly different forms of vegetation. The marshes are prolific breeders of the same species of salt marsh mosquito as exist here. Although a Mosquito Control District has been in existence at Vero Beach since 1925 very little was accomplished until 1952, During the Depression they had done a considerable amount of ditching but this proved only to be an engineering feat for the tremendous amount of work which had been put into cutting straight ditches was not what was needed and only proved that the mosquito will breed more profusely in ditches than in the normal marsh, During World War II when a Naval Base for training pilots was established in the area, spraying D.D.T, from planes was tried but this was soon found to be no answer for, despite spraying, the number of the pests remained the same and they seemed to become more and more immune to the insecticide, In 1952, therefore, it was decided to go back to a permanent programme of ditching and dyking. They purchased a drag-line and later o dredge, the latter for use to fill in the marshes on the inaccessible small islands where it would be difficult to use a drag-line. In 1955 two more drag-lines were purchased and they began an extensive programme of dyking and flooding such as is being tried here, This was so successful right from the start that they discontinued the dredging programme and now all marshland i,e, 6,000 to 7,000 acres, is dyked and flooded in the County and just one drag-line is in use for re-building dykes, when necessary, and to move dykes where development occurs, The area covered is 25 miles long by 10 miles wide which is about the same as the 3 Cayman Islands put together, This programme took about 10 years using 3 x 3/4 yard machines, running 10 hours per day, 5 days per week, Asked about the costs, Mr. Beidler told the Caymanian that the average cost of dyking and flooding programme is $35 per acre to build a dyke whereas, using their own 12" suction 10'' discharge dredge, which with equipment cost $75,000, the average cost (without grading) was $1,000 per acre.
This was worked out over the years since 1954 when on many occasions the dredge was working 18 hrs per day, and reckoning 2½ ft of fill. Thus dredging, although it is obviously by far the best method to deal with the problem, is quite out of the question from a financial standpoint unless people are willing to pay for it. This is why most Counties in Florida are using the dyking and flooding method and why Vero Beach is selling its dredge. Answering a query about dredging here, the Director agreed with Dr. Giglioli that we would first need an extensive hydro-geological survey to ascertain whether the sand and/or rock which is available would be sufficient to fill the swamps. In a dredging programme in areas such as we have in Cayman, we would be lucky to do 50 acres per year, working 10 hours per day or 80-90 acres if we worked 18 hrs and if this was soft sand dredging, The West Bay strip alone is about 4,000 acres and a little simple arithmetic will tell any reader how many hundreds of years it would take to rid us of mosquitoes at that rate of progress!
He also pointed out that dredging is considered detrimental to wild life, In Fla, you have to obtain a permit from the U.S. Fish and Wild Life Service to dredge any salt marsh areas, He thought that were we to dredge the North Sound we might well destroy the breeding grounds of many of our fish and crustaceans which like shallow water, By turning the bottom into mud could kill everything. The Indian River Mosquito Control District derives its income from 2 sources. Up until 1953 all came from local taxation, i.e. ad valorem tax with a Law allowing them to tax up to 10 mills. For years they taxed at the rate of 6½ mills which brought in around $200,000 p.a. In 1953 the State Govt. passed a law which gave each County engaged in mosquito control, a matching fund for permanent work i.e. dyking etc. only at the rate of 75¢ to every $1.00. The Indian River budget went up to a total of $500,000 but has now dropped back to a total of $300,000. Mr. Beidler estimates that $250,000 per year will be required to maintain the programme.
Of this the local tax-payer is now paying 75% since the matching fund has dwindled down to 13%. Commenting on what he had seen here, Mr, Beidler felt that what had been accomplished in so short a time was remarkable and looks very encouraging. This was, he felt, due to having the right approach from the outset ie, bringing in experts, building a lab, experimenting on pilot projects and putting into practice what is found to be the cheapest method giving the best results, "People are always looking for a magic wand which you can wave and control mosquitoes," the Director said, "But there is none, It just takes time and money,"
"People of Indian River County were convinced by the original founders that it would cost them a lot but it would pay off, If they wanted to live in the area and make it prosper they would have to have mosquito control and now the beaches are selling at large figures per front foot and mosquito control has allowed the area to develop," he said, The Indian River M.C.D. has a staff of 30 and is near to the State Research Centre where scientific advice and assistance are available to them.
Currently it is possible that some mutual help can be given between that Centre and the M.R.C.U. here regarding the depth of flooding which is just right in order not to kill out the mangroves which are, at the present time at any rate, a valuable windbreak which would be invaluable to us should a hurricane hit.
