Mosquitoes are already being released. The State of Hawaii has moved forward with its plan to release biopesticide lab-reared Wolbachia bacteria-infected mosquitoes on Maui and Kaua’i, with future expansion of the project to additional islands. Mark-Release-Recapture studies began on Kaua’i in October 2023.

This specific population control technique has NEVER been done in the state of Hawaii. This project is an experiment. Southern house mosquitoes have never been documented as used for Wolbachia IIT stand-alone field release anywhere in the world. The Kaua’i project area is the second largest Wolbachia mosquito release of any kind globally to date (the East Maui project area is the largest). The total acreage of the Kaua’i project area is almost 17% of the entire island.

Final Environmental Assessment for Use of Wolbachia-based Incompatible Insect Technique for the Suppression of Non-native Southern House Mosquito Populations on Kaua’i (10/13/23)