It wasn’t long ago that I was extolling praise on our Mosquito Research and Control Unit (MRCU) for the way they they have been handling our mosquito problem. For years we haven’t been bothered by those damned mozzies that when I forst arrived here caused me many years of misery,

Recently, however, the mozzies have returned and the MRCU admitted they had run out of the chemical that kept their numbers down. No real reason given.

A few days ago we received a Press Release from them extolling their enhancements to its “mosquito management programme across Cayman Brac and Little Cayman. Changes are designed to bring the islands in line with operations in Grand Cayman and with scientific best practice.”

“The Minister for Health, Environment, Culture and Housing, Hon. Dwayne Seymour explains that ‘the MRCU has taken these steps to ensure the highest standards of mosquito management are met across for communities across all three islands.”’

Gobble-de-gook!

We even received a nice photograph of trailer and $90,000 loader truck that arrtived in Cayman Brac.

Little Cayman has now a full time new Disease Prevention Officer. So those Little Cayman mozzies have some fresh flesh to nip at. They don’t seem to be quaking in their boots (if they were to wear any) at this new threat to their existence.

“Meanwhile, on Grand Cayman,” the PR goes on to say, “MRCU’s increased ground control measures successfully contended with a mosquito outbreak over the past two weeks. An aerial spraying operation on Tuesday, 25 June 2019, using a recently procured chemical that targets adult mosquitoes, helped to mop up nearly 7,000 acres in the Frank Sound/North Side area.

None of the above actually reassures us that all is well. Many residents have complained to the local media about the MRCU’s customers service being a total failure and CNS have also said very few of the questions they have posed to them last month have been answered.

CNS writes: “We asked if the MRCU is now using chlorpyrifos to combat mosquitoes, given that there are concerns about this chemical’s link to brain damage in children. CNS also asked about other changes in the MRCU’s larvicide and other insecticide products and queried why it had changed suppliers and was recently left with an empty cupboard.”

Other complaints from the public are “about thousands of tiny pellets being dumped on their properties as the MRCU plane flew overhead and their concerns that this larvicide is getting into their water system”.

My last few weeks in Newlands did see and hear (very loudly) the mosquito plane flying like a World War 1 Sopwith Camel having a dog fight with an unseen combatant. Maybe it was a Mosquito?*

It came back again the following day to have another fight.

The bee population is also very concerned at the new chemicals being employed.. The composition of which we haven’t been told.

We can, along with the MRCU, HOPE that our mozzies won’t now bother us so much.

• The unseen combatant the mosquito plane was fighting had to be a Fokker D VII. I have it on good authority that the pilot of the plane was heard to say he was “spraying the Fokkers”.