In Culleredo have captured more than 1,500 velutinas during these two months of trapping campaign thanks to the placement of 52 frames to avoid creating more velutin wasp nests.
To the traps placed by the city council, which captured 1,511 queens, we should add those captured by the neighbors themselves, among whom nearly 300 traps were distributed so that they could install them on their private land.
80 professionals will act within the framework of the Xunta and municipalities plan
A total of 80 Seaga professionals will act within the framework of the Xunta and municipalities plan to fight against velutin, after the notices have picked up ‘since the last week of April’, as there is a greater de-escalation, since the Confinement caused the alerts to drop by half the usual.
As explained by the Ministry of the Presidency, currently the intervention team of the public company Seaga for the neutralization of nests has 30 troops, but from next week it will begin to strengthen until it reaches 80 workers, ‘with the possibility of having more if if necessary. ‘
They are spread over five centers in Santiago de Compostela, A Coruña, Lugo, Ourense and Pontevedra. For its management, there is a coordination team of four technical and administrative personnel.
This year, as a novelty, inactive nests are also marked to ‘avoid unnecessary alerts’. In addition, messages are sent via SMS to the alerters who provide a mobile number to inform them of the interventions carried out.
Rebound since end of April
The fact is that since the plan was launched on January 20 and until March 18, 1,355 notices were received, giving an average of 25 a day.
On the other hand, from the start of the state of alarm until May 6, that number of alerts falls to 682, an average of 12 per day, according to data from the Xunta.
The least number of notices since the plan was launched took place between March 12 and April 15. However, in the last week of April there were 200 alerts, which is the highest number in the entire period and triple that of the previous seven days.
Thus, in four months of the plan there are 2,380 notices served – to the 2,037 since the start of the commission, 343 previous requests are added.
For this reason, the Galician Government remarks that “the team is being strengthened”, given that “it is foreseeable that the warnings will continue to increase considerably in the coming weeks.”
Municipalities with more than 90 cases
The municipalities of Oleiros, Vigo and Ourense lead the notifications for the presence of the velutin wasp, with more than 90 in each case, since the fight plan began, on January 20 – which has 278 member municipalities.
Between January 20 and May 13, the number of communications attended was 2,380. Of these, 949 occurred in the province of A Coruña, followed by Pontevedra (711), Ourense (396) and Lugo (324).
The average action time for the removal of a nest less than 25 meters high is five business days from the call.
New material
Seaga workers will incorporate new materials, after an investment of 55,000 euros, to combat velutin.
Thus, there will be 20 high-range compressed air markers, introducing a new technique for nest removal; 20 lighter and easier to use carbon fiber poles; as well as 10 battery pumps for biocide delivery that facilitate the neutralization of nests.
Although in Galicia a velutin control plan was activated since 2014, this year the joint plan of Xunta and the Galician Federation of Municipalities and Provinces (Fegamp) began, which has 2.3 million euros from the Autonomous Administration and the Local Cooperation Fund.
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