Three days of surveillance have revealed no further signs of Queensland fruit fly in Auckland.
But the Ministry of Primary Industries is not easing up on the search, following the discovery of a single male fly in a trap in the suburb of Avondale last Tuesday.
The ministry's deputy director general for compliance and response says over the next two weeks, hundreds of field and technical staff will continue the task of setting and checking traps and testing fruit and vegetables for any further signs of the fly - regarded as one of the worst horticultural pests.
Andrew Coleman says some staff will engage directly with the community, others will be involved in laboratory work and a scientist and technician need to look at whatever is caught in the traps and make an assessment and other staff will work with fruit samples.
Hundreds of pheromone traps have been set in the control zones around the original discovery site to lure any male fruit flies that may be present.
Mr Coleman says they are highly effective, but searching for female fruit flies involves a different technique.
Female fruit flies are much less likely to go to a lure trap and the best way to look for any indication of them is to look at fruit itself because the female fruit fly will lay eggs, he says.
"So we're going through orchards, citrus trees that might be on properties, we're talking to the owners, we're taking samples of the fruit, because what we're looking for there is anything that might suggest that a female fruit fly has been about."
Mr Coleman says there has been a fantastic response from public who are fully aware of the threat the Queensland fruit fly poses.
