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Federal Register / Vol. 86, No. 157 / Wednesday, August 18, 2021 / Notices citrus fruit from the inland region of Queensland, the regions that compose Western Australia, and the shires of Bourke and Narromine within New South Wales District will be issued only for ports in the continental United States.
Currently, citrus fruit from the Riverina, Riverland, and Sunraysia areas of Australia is allowed importation into all ports of the United States. This action will allow importation from three additional production areas of Australia to the continental United States, but will not affect currently authorized imports of citrus fruit from Australia except that the phytosanitary certificate will no longer require an additional declaration stating that the consignment is free of light brown apple moth Epiphyas postvittana, also known as LBAM.
The scope of the initial request was for specific additional production areas of the inland region of Queensland, the regions that compose Western Australia, and the shires of Bourke and Narromine within New South Wales; however, the Government of Australia stated that they consider that these production areas were intended to represent production and pest status across the broader jurisdictions and that the risk profiles associated with access granted at the broader whole-state levels of Queensland, Western Australia and New South Wales would not be appreciably greater than those associated with the specifically identified areas. As explained in greater detail below, this notice is limited to the scope of the initial request.
The regulations in 7 CFR 319.5
provide the process for submitting a request for a revision to importation requirements for plants or plant products. Based on the scope of the request submitted by the NPPO of Australia in accordance with this process, APHIS prepared the PRA that we made available with the initial notice. The areas covered by the PRA
were not considered to be illustrative or representative of a broader jurisdiction but were rather the specific areas requested by the NPPO itself. Moreover, we disagree that adjacent areas within a region can be presumed to have an equivalent pest profile to the regions evaluated by the PRA; in our experience, risk profiles can vary considerably within a geographical area.
For these reasons, APHIS cannot expand the scope of the areas of Australia allowed to export citrus to the United States without first revising the PRA to include the expanded area Australia proposes, and publishing a new notice
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with the revised PRA in the Federal Register for public comment.
One commenter stated that the PRA
did not assess the risk of the pink hibiscus mealybug Maconellicoccus hirsutus Green. The commenter noted this pest is present in parts of the United States but is currently not found in Arizona. The commenter further stated that pink hibiscus mealybug is found in Australia and may be found in the regions where additional citrus imports into the United States may be approved. The commenter stated that the PRA should indicate whether the pink hibiscus mealybug is a pest of concern in the Australian regions under consideration for export and its risk of introduction evaluated.
APHIS agrees with the commenter that pink hibiscus mealybug should be included in the pest list for citrus from Australia and has revised the PRA
accordingly.2 The pink hibiscus mealybug has already been introduced into the United States, however, and there is no eradication or control program for it in areas of the United States in which it is established. We have determined the overall likelihood of pink hibiscus mealybug following citrus fruit imports into the continental United States to be negligible. These changes do not affect the overall conclusions of the analysis and the Administrators determination of risk.
Phytosanitary Measures Two commenters expressed concern that the phytosanitary measures discussed in the CIED may not adequately prevent the introduction of Oriental red mite Eutetranychus orientalis, brown citrus rust mite Tegolophus australis, Lebbeck mealybug Nipaecoccus viridis, and Kellys citrus thrips Pezothrips kellyanus and stated that the risk of introducing these pests is not negligible.
As we concluded in the PRA, the overall likelihood of introduction of brown citrus rust mite, Oriental red mite, Lebbeck mealybug, and Kellys citrus thrips is negligible. Occurrence of these pests is infrequent in the export area. Furthermore, as outlined in the PRA, growers in Australia employ integrated pest management and cultural practices that further reduce the prevalence of these pests on the harvested commodity. This is also supported by the absence or low numbers of interceptions of these four pests of concern on citrus fruit from Australia at ports of entry. The control of mites is achieved by close monitoring 2 See footnote 1 for directions on how to view the updated PRA.

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during spring and autumn, encouragement of natural enemies, and the use of selective miticides. Mealybug and thrips populations are closely monitored from early spring and may be controlled through the release and promotion of natural enemies. The welltimed use of oil sprays is also highly effective.
We also note that Lebbeck mealybug was added to the list of pests no longer regulated at U.S. ports of entry for the continental United States and Hawaii on September 8, 2020. To re-categorize pests so they no longer require action at ports of entry, APHIS submits a proposal to the National Plant Board NPB, an organization composed of plant regulatory officials for State departments of agriculture. In this proposal to NPB, we propose to change the regulatory status of certain insects and plant diseases and provide our rationale for why they should no longer be considered of quarantine significance. The NPB reviews each proposal and must concur with the recommendation to change the pests regulatory status. The NPB concurred with our proposal to deregulate Lebbeck mealybug and accordingly we added it to the list of pests no longer regulated.
The list of pests no longer regulated can be viewed on the APHIS website at https www.aphis.usda.gov/aphis/
ourfocus/planthealth/plant-pest-anddisease-programs/frsmp/frsmp-non-regpests. We have revised the PRA to remove this pest from the list of pests associated with citrus from Australia.
One commenter noted that APHIS
proposed removing the additional declaration requirement that ensures the consignment is free of LBAM. The commenter stated that the PRA notes that LBAM population pressure is sometimes high in Australia, however, and larvae suspected to be LBAM have been intercepted from Australia on permit cargo of citrus. Despite removal of this declaration making import requirements consistent with APHIS
domestic requirements for LBAM, the commenter expressed concern that removal of this declaration requirement at the international level may lead to the pest escaping detection during routine production, post-harvest, and packing practices.
As we explained in the CIED, the current host list for APHIS domestic pest management for LBAM exempts conventionally produced citrus from LBAM quarantined areas from any
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