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Extracted from Consolidated Report

This investigation was originally published as part of a larger consolidated report containing multiple investigations. View the consolidated PDF for the complete document.

Monterey County Grand Jury • 2013-2014

Mosquito Abatement in Monterey County*

Published: May 02, 2014 8 pages

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⚠️ Translation Notice: This content has been automatically translated. The original English text is the official version. Translation may contain errors.

⚠️ Este contenido ha sido traducido automáticamente. El texto original en inglés es la versión oficial. La traducción puede contener errores.

Findings 5 findings

Mosquitoes in Monterey County carry diseases that can infect humans and animals, including but not limited to West Nile virus and equine encephalitis.

The requirements for construction of holding ponds, continuing and growing irrigation of vineyards and other agricultural crops in the County create mosquito breeding locations. Additionally, with a growing population, global trade, and tourism, new mosquito species traveling into new regions, present an increasing potential for humans and animals to contact mosquito borne disease throughout Monterey County. Coordination and communication between the District staff and the Monterey County

Health Department staff has been infrequent, somewhat limited to instances of disease out-breaks. A large working group of stakeholders was established during the West Nile outbreak in 2004 but it no longer meets on a regular basis. The District has a competent and hardworking staff but unfortunately the public does

not seem to be aware that the District exists, what they do or why it is important that mosquito abatement activities continue. Preventing disease simply does not attract public notice, active support or media attention, although it is the most cost effective measure for preventing disease, human misery and death. Should the proliferation of mosquitoes and mosquito borne disease increase, it will not

only have an impact on the health of residents but will also negatively impact tourism thus affecting the whole economy of Monterey County.

Recommendations 4

R1

Department should work together to develop a coordinated plan for mosquito control, including a budget for countywide mosquito management, whether the parcel tax passes or does not pass. The District and the Monterey County Health Department should establish regular and
R2

routine communication regarding mosquito abatement and control issues. They should work to find ways to maximize resources of both groups to broaden the reach of mosquito control throughout the County when possible. The Northern Salinas Valley Mosquito Abatement District Board should allocate
R3

resources to public information and outreach, including but not limited to; managing the website, social media and written materials explaining the role of mosquitoes in human and animal disease and the resources available to members of the public trying to control mosquitoes on their own property. The District and Monterey County Health Department staff should mutually and quickly
R4

explore and report on a path to extend the mosquito abatement activities throughout the County and report their findings to the Board of Supervisors.

* This report's PDF did not contain easily extractable text and required Optical Character Recognition (OCR) for analysis. There may be minor errors in the extracted findings and recommendations due to OCR limitations with scanned documents.