Mosquito Control Operations
The Commissioners recognize the necessity to use chemical control measures to reduce the impact of nuisance mosquitoes upon the residents and visitors of Monmouth County. We use only those products that are reviewed and recommended by the New Jersey Agricultural Experiment Station/Cook College/Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey. These products including the appropriate application rates are published on an annual basis in Insecticides for Mosquito Control in New Jersey. Pesticide usage is part of our surveillance based IPM approach to mosquito control. All products used are registered with both the USEPA and the NJDEP.
The professional staff of the MCMEC is continually striving to decrease our reliance on pesticides for controlling mosquito populations. When pesticide use is necessitated the staff uses registered larvicides and pupicides to remediate the problems.
The Monmouth County Mosquito Extermination Commission (MCMEC) inspects and treats areas found to be breeding mosquitoes. The common pesticides used for larvae are Abate, Altosid and Bti. Abate is a species-specific organo-phosphate that breaks down in the environment within 36 hours. Altosid is a growth hormone that attacks the mosquito larvae. Bti is a natural bacteria that only affects mosquito and black fly larvae. The MCMEC also stocks small, isolated waterbodies with mosquitofish, Gambusia affinis, to control the larval mosquito population by natural predation. Certain criteria set forth by NJDEP Fish Game and Wildlife must be met before gambusia can be used.
The focus of the MCMEC pesticide program is the larval stage of the mosquito. Reliance on adulticides is infrequent and is considered to be necessary when adult mosquito populations create an excessive nuisance or public health problem. Sometimes adulticiding is required if larviciding was not effective enough or if WNV or other mosquito-borne diseases breaks out. In these situations, resmethrin (Scourge) is our product of choice.
Page Last Updated: 10/7/2008 2:53:00 PM