APHIS Expands the European Cherry Fruit Fly (Rhagoletis cerasi) Quarantine in New York

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FOR INFORMATION AND ACTION 
DA-2025-19 
May 19, 2025 

 

Subject: APHIS Expands the European Cherry Fruit Fly (Rhagoletis cerasi) Quarantine in New York 

To: State, Tribal, and Territory Agricultural Regulatory Officials 

On May 19, the USDA's Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS), in cooperation with the New York State Department of Agriculture and Markets (NYS AGM), expanded the European cherry fruit fly (Rhagoletis cerasi; ECFF) quarantine to include Onondaga, Oswego, and Seneca Counties, New York. This action expands the quarantine area by 1,018 square miles and includes 23 acres of commercial cherry production. 

APHIS took this action in response to the confirmed detections of four adult ECFF in Oswego County between June 17 and June 26, 2024. With this expansion, the ECFF quarantine now includes all of Cayuga, Erie, Genesee, Monroe, Niagara, Onondaga, Ontario, Orleans, Oswego, Senaca, and Wayne Counties. This quarantine does not include the Cattaraugus, Cayuga, Onondaga, Tonawanda, and Tuscarora Indian Reservations. The 7,353 square mile quarantine contains 1,539 acres of commercial cherry production. 

APHIS is applying safeguarding measures and restrictions on the interstate movement of regulated articles to prevent the spread of ECFF to non-infested areas of the United States, as well as to prevent the entry of these fruit flies into foreign trade while maintaining commercial cherry production and marketing within the state. These measures parallel the intrastate quarantine that NYS AGM established on April 2, 2025. APHIS is working with the NYS AGM to respond to these detections following program guidelines for survey and regulatory actions. 

The APHIS fruit fly website contains specific changes to the quarantined areas in New York. APHIS will publish a notice of this change in the Federal Register. 

For additional information on the ECFF quarantine you may contact: 

/s/

Matthew A. Rhoads 
Acting Deputy Administrator 
Plant Protection and Quarantine