Swarms of flies at Kealia
plague nearby residentsWildlife officials plan to drop pellets
to curb Maui's midge menace
WAILUKU >> Beverly Gessel said the pesky flies called midges were so bad last week she was unable to spend time on her lanai.
"You can't talk because if you talk you get them in your mouth," said Gessel, a resident of the Sugar Beach Condominium in South Maui.
Gessel is hopeful her problems may be solved soon, as federal wildlife officials plan to drop insecticide pellets today into midge breeding grounds at Kealia Pond National Wildlife Refuge.
Refuge manager Glynnis Nakai said the number of midges is fewer than two years ago.
"This is not even close to what we had in 2001," she said.
The pellets contain the synthetic hormone s-methoprene, which prevents juvenile midges from emerging as adult flying insects. It has been found to be 90 percent effective in federally funded tests at Kealia.
Nakai said the pellets have had no effect on bird life.
The pellets will be applied in pond areas away from nesting sites of endangered species such as the Hawaiian coot, she said.
The pond encompasses about 700 acres, including a little less than 200 acres of open water, Nakai estimated.
Midges, also known as Polypedilum nubifer, have black bodies about half an inch long and wingspans about a quarter of an inch wide.
Scientists say midges were reported as nuisances in South Maui as early as 1996, and sightings of them were reported on Oahu in 1945.
During the rainy season from January through March, millions of them emerge from muddy waters of the refuge and begin to swarm in the mornings and at sunset.
A Bishop Museum entomologist estimated the number of mature midge maggots at 150 million to 200 million at Kealia in 1998 and noted that some 50 million midges emerged in the first week of December 1997.
Scientists say female midges enter large swarming columns of male midges to mate in flight, then fly away to lay their eggs.
The eggs become larvae, or bloodworms, that eventually form shells. After a period of growth, the shells rise to the surface of the water and split, allowing adult midges to take flight.
Gessel said the midges take away the enjoyment of living in Kealia.
"They swarm all around you at night. You can't have your lights on. You can't eat outside," she said.
She said while there have not been any for the past two years, they have returned this year and were swarming last week.
Rodger Mellema, residential manager at Kealia Condominium, said the midges began swarming two weeks after a flood in early December.
"It's beginning to get bad," he said.
Residents said they would prefer to completely get rid of the midges, but federal officials do not want to eliminate them.
"They don't want to get rid of them completely because they feed the birds," Mellema said.