A big bug complaint on Fairfield

There are things we need to do to avoid mosquitos.

And the Crawshaws have done it all.

They’ve kept the lawn cut short. They’ve avoided going out at dusk and dawn. They’ve bundled up in cool weather clothes despite the sunshine.

And they’ve made sure those miniature nuisances have nowhere to hide, and more importantly, nowhere to breed. Their one-acre property off Young Road on Fairfield Island has no standing water, no pond, no tires, no forgotten toys collecting water.

Still, the mosquitos are there. And Rene Crawshaw says they seem to be showing up in larger numbers than in previous years.

The one thing he won’t do is slap DEET-containing bug repellents on his skin or his infant daughter’s.

“I don’t want that stuff around,” he says. “I have a 10-day old baby.”

So Crawshaw purchased a Mosquito Magnet, which at just over $300 promises to eliminate the pests from your yard without damaging the ecosystem. A propane tank attachment diffuses carbon dioxide with an attractant, and when the mosquitos come close, a vacuum sucks them in.

In the past seven days, Crawshaw has caught thousands of bugs in the contraption. And for three of his like-minded neighbours, it’s the same story.

“This year is just over the top,” he says. “We have a large area covered and we still aren’t winning the war.”

Now, he wonders what the city is doing to help control the mosquito population.

That job is managed by the Fraser Valley Regional District, which contracts the work out to Morrow BioScience Ltd.

The FVRD’s website says it uses education and public relations, physical control, biological control and chemical control in its pursuit to manage mosquitoes.

And they do rely on response from the public to help them identify new sites where mosquitos are most problematic. An infestation is considered to be three bites in one minute on an exposed forearm. The mosquito hotline is 1-888-733-2333.

But there are perennial problem spots, too. And to track those areas, the FVRD uses GPS, along with several computer programs, to collect, update and compile useful data into their system.

The focus is on impacting the environment as little as possible, using a naturally occurring bacterium, Bti.

As for Crawshaw, he plans to keep using his Mosquito Magnet and will continue to wear jeans and long sleeved shirts while in his backyard. He will stay inside when the bugs are their worst.

“Dusk is horrible, and citronella doesn’t work,” he says.

His only comfort is that the thousands of bugs he caught will never lay their own eggs.

“All of these would be breeding, potentially,” he says, shaking a plastic container filled with thousands of mosquitos.

To find out more about local mosquito control practices, visit www.fvrd.bc.ca.