Sagunto Resumes Sterile Mosquito Releases to Control Tiger Mosquito
The Valencian agriculture ministry has restarted Sagunto's tiger mosquito biological control programme for the third consecutive year, releasing sterilised male insects across three city locations.
For the third year, Sagunto joins a regional campaign targeting Aedes albopictus — a species capable of transmitting dengue and chikungunya — run by the Conselleria d'Agricultura. Three urban sites are covered: Triángulo Umbral, Plaza Cronista Chabret and Plaza de l'Aljub, with treatments scheduled through to early December.
The method deployed is the Sterile Insect Technique (SIT): laboratory-raised male mosquitoes are rendered infertile through radiation and released en masse. When they mate with wild females, the clutches fail to produce viable larvae. Every week 18,528 specimens are distributed across 7.72 hectares; by the end of the campaign the cumulative total will exceed 700,000 released males. The technique was first successfully documented in 1954, and its architects received the World Food Prize in 1992.
Data from the previous year backs the approach: in the programme's benchmark municipalities, egg-laying activity dropped 65 % on average, with spot reductions approaching 80 % at peak periods. Health councillor Javier Timón highlights that the intervention relies entirely on biology, with no insecticides used, according to Sagunto City Council.