The Commune of Hitiaa is located at the East of Tahiti Island.
It is joined to the neighbouring communes to form the de Hitiaa O Tera district, which with about 8,700 inhabitants, ranks 12th among Tahiti's communes.
It is on the East coast, which is well watered by Trade Winds rains.
LFA having a marked preference for non-arid areas, its eradication in this commune threatens to be fairly tough.
Hitiaa counts 3 known colonies, listed since late 2008:
The area was not pooled before 2008.
The Commune of Mahaena is located at the North-East of Tahiti Island.
It is joined to the neighbouring communes to form the de Hitiaa O Tera district, which with about 8,700 inhabitants, ranks 12th among Tahiti's communes.
It is on the East coast, which is well watered by Trade Winds rains.
LFA having a marked preference for non-arid areas, its eradication in this commune threatens to be fairly tough.
Mahaena counts 1 known colonie, listed since late 2008:
The area was not pooled before 2008.
The Commune of Tiarei is located at the North-East of Tahiti Island.
It is joined to the neighbouring communes to form the de Hitiaa O Tera district, which with about 8,700 inhabitants, ranks 12th among Tahiti's communes.
It is on the East coast, which is well watered by Trade Winds rains.
LFA having a marked preference for non-arid areas, its eradication in this commune threatens to be fairly tough.
Tiarei counts 5 known colonies, the first listed since late 2008:
The area was not pooled before 2008.
The 4 satellites appeared between our two 2009 visits: This contamination is still not identified by signs to alert people.
The Commune of Papenoo is located at the North-East of Tahiti Island.
The situation there is mainly unknown.
It is joined to the neighbouring communes to form the de Hitiaa O Tera district, which with about 8,700 inhabitants, ranks 12th among Tahiti's communes.
It is on the East coast, which is well watered by Trade Winds rains.
Papenoo counts 8 known colonies, the first listed as soon as late 2004:
At the end of this street is a building materials factory. It sends, thus, its products across the whole country. The company is aware of the problem and does its best to avoid participating in the spread of this pest.
Ants enter homes, like elsewhere: Inhabitants are, of course, deeply concerned.
2007 brang the sad news of two infestations deep in the biggest valley of Tahiti, Karting's edge and backfill (Remblais).
2009 shows the speed disaster which follows when any control is lacking, despite alerts to the population.
Mahina's commune is on the northeast of Tahiti.
With more than 14.500 inhabitants, it ranks in 6th position among Tahiti's communes.
Its geographical position put it at the climatic frontier between the East coast watered under the Trade Winds and the slightly drier West side.
LFA having a pronounced preference for non-arid areas, its eradication in this commune will be tough, when it is scheduled.
Mahina is devastated at more than 50%, it has not less than 34 inventoried colonies in May 2009.
It is the most contaminated Polynesia commune, in surface as in contamination number, the less badly known. We evaluate now at about 75% the tested surface in this commune:
Areas: 2007=violet ; 2009=red (points are of 2009)
That is 36 colonies, not all yet in contact, ranking in size from few square meters to about 300 ha (the biggest found, today) and with one deep in the mountain, wetlands (Ahonu Valley) which emit satellites colonies all along the river,like which happened in Tuauru Valley between 2005 and 2007.
The rivers dispersion power is known since long with LFA.
Mahina offers several examples of this disastrous power, as shown in this document (in French): ExplosionsDePFF.pdf (1.68 Mbs).
An evaluation of the contaminated areas on the Direction de l'Environnement GIS is available here (pdf file - 413 Kb).
Arue's commune joins Mahina's one, the northeast one of Tahiti, West side.
With more than 9.500 inhabitants, it ranks in 10th position among Tahiti's communes.
Its geographical position put it at the climatic frontier between the East coast watered under Trade Winds and the slightly drier West side.
Arue counts 6 inventoried colonies on the 12 June 2009.
It is a badly known commune, thus, apparently lightly contaminated.
We evaluate to about 10 % the pooled surface in this commune:
That is 6 colonies two of which being deep in mountain, in wetlands.
Mainly in the bush:
Above the Arue military camp:
Awfully in the bush:
each side of the resort:
Pirae's commune is between the capital Papeete and Arue's commune.
With more than 14.700 inhabitants, it ranks in 5th position among Tahiti's communes.
Its geographical position put it at the begining of the West Coast, a few drier than the other one.
It is a badly known commune, thus, apparently lightly contaminated.
We evaluate to about less than 10% the pooled surface in this commune.
Pirae counts 5 colonies recorded on the 8 June 2009:
This colony is identified, its frontiers are known. The inhabitants reacted, in the main, very well by treating together the greatest part of this colony when discovered, without waiting for an official reaction.
That is 1 colony established at less than 150 m far from the town hall and from the Service de l'Hygiène Scolaire reception centre where, each year, the more than 35.000 pupils of whole country are bound to come for their compulsory medical visit.
Papeete commune, the capital, is at the North-West of Tahiti Island.
With more than 26.000 inhabitants, it ranks in 2nd position among Tahiti's communes, and has more than a fifth of the Island population.
Its geographical position shelters it a bit from Trade winds, and so it is drier than the East coast communes (Papenoo and Mahina) contaminated with LFA.
The LFA pooling in Papeete has barely begun. We estimate now at 15% the pooled surface in this commune.
However it counts at least 11 colonies, listed mid-2009 and located on the same crest: Tipaerui, Sainte Amélie and Pic Rouge districts:
The devastating effect of contaminations brang in rivers's highs is, once again, demonstrated here.
Tipaerui Valley is split between Papeete for its low part, and Faa'a fot the other. The contamination discovered mid-2009 in the highs if this valley may be about 2 years old. The satellite colonies at the moment spotted are of 10, all recent, according to their small size.
This colony is one of the most recently discovered (November 2006).
It seems to have silently settled there since three years at least, that is to say after the first general alert and involves more than thirty houses.
It is located at about a hundred meters far from the city heart (avenue Bruat - place Tarahoi)
As it is not officially a housing estate but a in a heavily built-up district without common management its eradication will not be easy. Its extent in the bush is consistent.
Local TV show made with help from the Environment Ministry, 3 October 2006, in a banana plantation adjacent to houses.
These two colonies, discovered by the end of May 2009 seem to be satellite of the Mamaia contaminations, above.
They are located at about a hundred of meters far from the first colony discovered on this crest:
They are still tiny, however the bush around, which is offered so, is wide. In the end, the melt with those of Tipaerui Valley will be easy, because of the slope.
This set of colonies seems to silently settle there since about 3 years at the moment of its discovery, in May 2009, that is to say after the first general alerts, and impacts even so all this industrial Valley:
The situation is not yet lost but we are near by: Slopes of the valley's highs are apperntly still safe, but perfectly verticals.
Appart from the first, the widest, all the others are still undetectable from the street.
How is it possible that these contaminations have never been reported by the owners of this industrial area while the population is regularly warned since 2004?
Faa'a commune is located at the North-West of Tahiti Island. It adjoins the capital, Papeete, and shelters the International Airport.
With more than 30.000 inhabitants, it is the most populous of Tahiti's communes.
Its geographical position shelters it a little from Trade winds.
LFA pooling in Faa'a is embryonic. We estimate the pooled surface in this commune at just 10 % at the moment.
There is at least 10 colonies:
This colony was listed by the "Service du Développement Rural" (SDR) early 2005.
It seems to have its origin in the building of houses (this photo is not recent).
The lack of communication between services and the lack of communication from and within the Agriculture Ministry meant that this colony has officially only been included in the fight against LFA since the Agriculture Ministry abandonned the management to the Environment Ministry (end 2006), that is to say more than a year and a half after its discovery!
Since, two satellite colonies have been discovered, the first on the 3 June 2008, the second on the 26 May 2009:
It is located high on the mountain but in an urbanized area.
This set of colonies seems to silently settle there since about 3 years at the moment of its discovery, in May 2009, that is to say after the first general alerts, and impacts even so all this industrial Valley:
The situation is not yet lost but we are near by: Slopes of the valley's highs are apperntly still safe, but perfectly verticals.
How is it possible that these contaminations have never been reported by the owners of this industrial area while the population is regularly warned since 2004, and while some of them are comming from New Caledonia?
Punaauia commune covers a third of the West coast of Tahiti Island.
With more than 25.000 inhabitants, it ranks in 3rd position among Tahiti's communes, with a fifth of the Island population.
Its geographical position shelters it a bit from Trade Winds, and it is therefore drier than Mahina and Papenoo.
Its great width and extensive industrial development, particularly at the mouth of Punaruu Valley, are further challenges to entirely eradicate its ants.
Punaauia counts 13 colonies listed mid-2009.
The term "pk" means "kilometric point", or distance in kilometres counted from the centre of the capital, Papeete:
Punaauia is contaminated by at least 13 colonies spreaded along more than 8 km, the biggest known being Punavai, followed by the colony at the "Pointe des Pêcheurs" (= fishermen's wharf), or pk 17 one.
The remainder of the commune, that is at least 90% of inhabited areas remains still totally unknown today.
We estimate now from 1 to 10 % the tested surface in this commune.
This colony is one of the tiniest known, discovered by a pupil during field work managed by a Biology teacher, got a chotic story.
It engulfed half a dozen of houses at start, and the private attempt to eradicate it in 2005 seems to have eliminated more than 90% of the ants. The remainder of the housing estate has been entirely and collectively tested in depth (about every 10-20 m) by the inhabitants themselves and with us and is revealed to be unharmed at this time.
That way, it is the colony which had been the most fought against during the year 2005, even if the method followed was a bit messy. (see: Te Tavake seen by the ISSG.)
2005 year might eradicate it, but some queens succeeded to escape through a discreet pipe under the street downward of the polluted area. From there, they succeeded to reach the Southside bush where they settle in numbers:
Te Tavake is a failure.
This colony covers yet several dozen hectares located mainly in a quasi-wild low altitude zone, though deeply disturbed by human activities.
It is not included in a housing estate but covers different private properties, uncoordinated. Its eradication is, for these two reasons at least, problematic.
We, now have a precise idea of its present extension, but strong is the disappointment about treatments supposed given.
The discovery, in 2009, of a satellite colony just below is an other disappointment reason:
As for the previous one, this colony of some dozen hectares is not located in a housing estate.
It is, for now, the only one that has been inventoried on the coastal side of the Island belt road (roads are biological barriers for the natural spread of LFA).
It consists of a luxury hostel and numerous private homes.
This colony, bigger than Te Tavake's one (about the double) in 2005, is in full expansion.
Nor it is located in a housing estate, even if those living there feel extremely concerned by the threat at their gates.
It was, in 2005, subject of eradication attempts by either private individuals or by the Agriculture Ministry.
Nevertheless, it is not easy to eradicate, on account of the topography of this zone (some very steep slopes) and, because of the extra human energy required, as with all the other colonies outside residential areas, despite that all the concerned people are aware.
In 2009, a first satellite colony is found at about half a kilometer southward, on a handfull of square meters only.
Papehue Valley owns a biodiversity among the richest of Tahiti (endemic bird Monarch of Tahiti, endemic tree snails, genus Partula, several endemic plant species, etc.)
The colony here was listed first by the Agriculture Ministry in 2005, informed by the family which had been its vector (see below). As precise data were given by the SDR (Agriculture Ministry) only in late 2006, its exact frontiers are still unknown today.
It is located about 800 m Northward of Papehue River's mouth and is a relatively small size (< 2 ha).
The colony had been created in 2003 by a gardener working in Mahina who carried back green waste to compost it at home. As soon as he knew what was going on (first public alert the 12 October 2004), he immediately stopped any activity and tried to kill it by burning his compost and watering it with pesticides after. It was too late: The surrounding jungle was already contaminated.
A satellite colony of some square meters has been detected nearby, in a neighbouring home where they used some of this contaminated compost in their vanilla field. Both melted since, and in less than a year:
Papara commune stretches on 13 km of the belt road, Southwestward of Tahiti, from pk 29 to pk 42.
The term "pk" means "kilometric point", or distance in kilometres counted from the capital centre, Papeete.
With some 10.000 inhabitants, it ranks in 6th among Tahiti's communes.
Its geographical position shelters it a bit from Trade Winds, but in front of South winds. It is wetter than the North-West communes.
Papara counts 2 colonies listed early 2009, and quite fare from each other.
The remainder of the commune, that is to say at least 90 % of its urbanized areas, still remains unknown today.
We estimate at 5 % today's pooled surface in this commune.
This colony, the widest known in this commune, has been discovered while searching the causes of an other contamination, is the lessly badly known.
It streaches in the bush on more than half a kilometer, and engulfs a dozen of houses and societies.
The presently polluted surface encompasses cliffs covered by bush. Eradication is unlikely to succeed.
This colony, recently discovered, is surrounded.
It extend seaside in an area which is not disturbed since long. Its position, and its wideness suggest that the Ahoaraa river is contaminated somewhere upward, and on a scale which can't be small:
