Black flies surge in Maine - Kudos to the Environmentalists!

[Ready2Fly08]

http://www.boston.com/news/science/articles/2008/06/23/black_flies_surge_in_maines_clean_rivers/

:ohno
Black flies surge in Maine's clean rivers
Citing environment's gain, state declines to curb the biting bugs
June 23, 2008
MILLINOCKET, Maine - Mainers call the black fly the state bird.

Residents and tourists have long steeled themselves against the flies' annual warm-weather onslaught, sometimes duct-taping pant legs and wearing screened hoods to keep the deceptively small bugs from delivering bloody bites or crawling into seemingly every body crevice.

But there are now more black flies in more places in Maine, and the reason may be surprising: It's the success of the environmental movement.

Many species of the gnat-sized insects are sticklers for cleanliness. When Maine's rivers were filled with contaminants from paper mills and other industries, only the hardiest black flies laid eggs in them. Now, rivers and streams are progressively cleaner, providing ideal breeding grounds for the annoying pests.

It's an unintended barometer of good ecological health, but Maine officials are adamant they will not mess with nature in any way to provide relief.

"They can be so thick you breathe them in and they get stuck in your throat. They even get under your eyelids," said Julia Brilliott, an Eastport resident who showed off four lumpy red welts on the back of her neck after climbing Mount Katahdin in Baxter State Park last week.

For the uninitiated, black flies are blood-sucking insects with a menacing reputation worthy of a late-night science fiction movie. Not all bite humans - some feed on other mammals and birds - but those that do are relentless daytime feeders. Even the nonbiting flies are often despised because they emerge by the millions in warm months and, lured by the carbon dioxide we exhale, swarm around people...

*More at above link*

[readynwaiting]

G.R.O.S.S.!!!!!! Guess I won't be going to Maine anytime in the near future...:fear

[Seemomgonuts]

Ewwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww

[felixthecat]

More enviroMENTAL terrorism ->

From the link, another excerpt:

Some states, such as Pennsylvania, heavily control black flies. Officials there spend about $6 million a year treating 47 rivers and streams with a bacteria whose naturally occurring toxin kills black fly and mosquito larvae. Pennsylvania officials say the bacteria, called Bti, are not harmful to humans, mammals, birds, fish, plants, and most aquatic organisms.

Maine officials say they won't use it, however. The rivers were polluted enough in the past, and officials refuse to put anything else in them unless it's to solve a human health crisis. They say trout and birds feed on black flies, so killing fly larvae could have ripple effects on wildlife. And Bti kill other fly species that are part of a healthy ecosystem.

"We do not favor anything that is toxic to one organism because we often find out down the road they are toxic to others," said David Littell, commissioner of the Maine Department of Environmental Protection.

...

To be sure, there are some people who are downright happy about the fly population increase.

...

Members of the Maine Blackfly Breeder's Association in Machias are even taking credit for it. Organizers of the tongue-in-cheek organization, whose motto is "We breed 'em you feed 'em," say they are working to breed black flies with fireflies so the flies can be active at night. The group holds an annual convention and raises money for local charities.

"We are ecstatic," said Marilyn Dowling, who calls herself the director of research and development for the association. She and Holly Garner-Jackson, the marketing director, said people have a choice: polluted rivers and no black flies, or clean rivers and black flies. People "should roll up their sleeves to feed the little darlings," Dowling said. "They are defenders of the wilderness."

...

http://www.boston.com/news/science/articles/2008/06/23/black_flies_surge_in_maines_clean_rivers/

I dare to ask the unthinkable?

How about clean water and NO black flies?

Guess I won't be visiting there any time soon.
This will do wonders for the tourist industry.

[Ready2Fly08]

[QUOTE=felixthecat;645625]
I dare to ask the unthinkable?

How about clean water and NO black flies?

QUOTE]

:aha

[icebear]

sheesh, its not that bad. wear some DEET.... its the Chanel #5 of Maine

[fishersofmen]

yeah, stick the chemicals on the dirty rotten human being that is useless to society and does nothing good and that the environmentalist hates, so they can get some odd cancer in 20 years from using some chemicals to avoid getting bit by flies, when you could put a chemical in the rivers that wouldn't hurt anything but the larve of the flies so the problem wouldn't exist. I would avoid using deet alot, expecially on children its just a matter of time before there is something discovered in it that will lead to cancer.
Just better to avoid places with flies.....

common sense anyone???

[Biblenuggetlady]

My area of CA has tons of flies this summer, I've never seen so many. I went to the .99 cent store and bought these fly traps, they are really sticky and the flies land on them and get stuck, there are 3 to a package, in two days they were all covered. YUK!!!!