Nahant Administrator confident that new mosquito control plan will be effective

NAHANT-Nahant Town Administrator Mark Cullinan said the mosquito control plan put together by the Essex County Mosquito Control should be effective.?It’s a well thought out plan and I am sure it will be effective,” he said. “It calls for addressing mosquitoes in the larval stage by treating catch basins and other areas where mosquitoes breed.”The town recently received the Northeast Mosquito Control Project Management Plan and one of the main components of the management plan is larviciding catch basins.Cullinan explained the larvicides are effective in controlling mosquitoes and the treatment used to kill the larva in the catch basins and storm drains is very use-specific. He said it is a bacteria that is only harmful to insects, including mosquitoes, that breed in a specific way.Cullinan said as mosquito season gets underway, the Northeast Mosquito Control and Wetlands Management District would set up traps in town and monitor the mosquito population based on information it collects from mosquito traps. He said the management plan includes adding additional mosquito traps at Town hall and near the Lowlands ball fields.?The traps will be monitored on a weekly basis,” he said. “If mosquitoes test positive for EEE or West Nile during the year, you step up to the next level.”Cullinan said the capture of mosquitoes closely associated with the West Nile Virus and Eastern Equine Encephalitis or the capture of mosquitoes that test positive for disease would determine what other mosquito control measures would be implemented during the summer.He said initially larvicides are preferable to spraying because sprays can be toxic to humans and pets. “Spraying has less of a shelf life than larvicides,” he said. “Spraying is probably only effective for about half an hour.”Health Agent John Coulon explained there are thousands of varieties of mosquitoes and many species are innocuous, but those that pose a hazard to public health breed in standing water and marshy areas. Coulon said there are more than 50 species of mosquitoes in Massachusetts but only a handful of species are connected to diseases that affect humans. He said the species known to carry Eastern Equine Encephalitis breed primarily in marshy areas and the mosquitoes that carry West Nile Virus have a preference for standing water.