The importation of “incompatible-male” mosquitoes to control populations of wild mosquitoes and to save four native bird species from extinction, does not involve the use of any genetically modified organisms (GMOs) or genetically engineered (GE) organisms.
The Plant and Animal Advisory Committee of the Dept. of Agriculture will consider listing three species of mosquitoes on its Restricted Species List A. The listing would allow the importation of three species of mosquitoes, all of which are already present in Hawai‘i. One of these, the Southern House Mosquito (Culex quinquefasciatus) isresponsible for sharp declines in the populations of many honeycreeper species on Kaua‘i, Maui, and Hawai‘i Island. The other two species – Yellow Fever Mosquito (Aedes aegypti) and Asian Tiger Mosquito (Aedes albopictus) – transmit human diseases.
A collection of agencies and organizations working under the Birds, Not Mosquitoes partnership, plan to introduce a mosquito birth control into bird habitats to try and stop avian malaria from killing the last remaining populations of these birds, some of which have fewer than 100 individuals in the wild and are expected to go extinct in less than two years. The birth control method uses male mosquitoes (which do not bite) with a strain of a bacterium called Wolbachia that is incompatible with the strain of Wolbachia currently found in wild mosquitoes in Hawaiʻi. When these male mosquitoes mate with females in the forest, the mosquito eggs do not hatch and the mosquito population size drops. No genes are modified in the mosquito or in the Wolbachia bacteria.
This mosquito birth control approach is being safely used in 15 different countries, including on the continental U.S. The Birds, Not Mosquitoes partnership is guided by the State’s top scientists and researchers, who collectively have many decades of experience studying Hawaiʻi’s forest birds and mosquitoes. According to Birds, Not Mosquitoes, “We need these Wolbachia-incompatible male mosquitoes to be listed so that importation can commence.”
Landscape-scale control of disease-carrying mosquitoes is considered the most urgent conservation issue in Hawai‘i. A recent U.S. Department of Interior report estimated ‘akikiki on Kaua‘i are likely to go extinct in 2023, and the ʻākohekohe, kiwikiu, and ʻakekeʻe, soon after that. Information from the Birds, Not Mosquitoes group notes, “The extinction of the Hawaiian honeycreepers is being driven by exposure to avian diseases transmitted by non-native mosquitoes. Climate change is allowing non-native, disease-carrying mosquitoes to invade higher elevation forests, which was previously the last disease-free habitat where the honeycreepers were safe.”
All three of the mosquitoes are known to carry human diseases in Hawai‘i. Listing the species will enable the Department of Health to utilize this tool to reduce populations of mosquitoes of health concern in a safe, targeted manner, without the use of chemical insecticides.
DLNR Photo