Mosquito numbers on the rise in Saskatoon

Saskatoon had a slow start to the summerwhen it comes to mosquitoes, but city officials say the blood-suckinginsects are in the midst of making a comeback.

Until July 6, the city's mosquito traps were recording numbers well below the city's 10-year average with 0.88 mosquitos in the trap compared to the average of 38.94 but in recent days, that number has been climbing due to rains in late June.

"Certain mosquito species that respond very well to spring rain events, those numbers are kind of spiking up in the last week or so," said Jeff Boone, an entomologist with the City of Saskatoon. "But prior to that, we had such dry conditions in the spring, we had very, very low mosquito numbers."

The city's most recent mosquitocounts, which are done dailywith the exception ofMondays,found the number of nuisance mosquitoes is rising and has even surpassed the city's 10-year average. Between July 7 and July 13, 26.42 mosquitoes were counted, compared to the average of 24.59.

Mosquito numbers 'fluctuate a lot'

"Mosquito numbers, they really fluctuate a lot," said Boone, noting when population spikes, so do efforts around handling the annoying insects.

He said following the rain in late June, some staff were reallocated and there was a spike in the amount of bacterial agent the city uses to kill mosquito larvae, called VectoBac.

"Just because of the nature of mosquito patrol, it all sort of happens at once following rain events where there's a window of application, which is really important to help reduce the numbers."

Boone said city crews are largely treating standing water on large properties in and around Saskatoon.In the city, he said, "we don't have a lot of effective mosquito control," noting residents have a role to play.

He said peopleshould be clearing their properties of any standing water, which means regularly changing bird baths, properly screening rain barrels and ensuring children's toys aren't collecting water.

Lance Fries, owner and operator of We-Do-All Contractors in Saskatoon, said this year hasbeen off to a good start.

"It was of course an extremely dry spring so there wasn't a lot of standing water here in the spring," he said, noting his team has seen "almost zero mosquitoes."

No mosquitoes capable of carrying West Nile recorded

That will change, but he said the presence of mosquitoes has "actually been pretty light"this year compared to previous years.

"I definitely think there's going to be a lot more mosquitoes now because there's so much standing water around, that they've got some place to breed and that's going to mean more mosquitoes for us."

However, while there has been a recorded increase in the number of mosquitoes being captured in city traps, Boone says they are not the Culex tarsalis variety, which is known to carry viruses like West Nile.

"Unfortunately, it's a mosquito that does bite us and it's a fairly ferocious biter, but thankfully, not a transmitter of disease."