Collier Mosquito Control District employees honored at 2024 Florida Mosquito Control Association Annual Meeting

Two Collier Mosquito Control District employees were honored at the 2024 Florida Mosquito Control Association Annual Meeting held November 4-7 in Orlando. The FMCA Annual Meeting brings together leaders in the mosquito control industry from across the state to share new research and provide updates on how they effectively manage mosquito activity in their communities. 

Rachel Bales and Atom Rosales received the James W. Robinson Memorial Award for their work on the District’s mosquitofish program. Bales is a graduate of Florida Gulf Coast University with a BS in Marine Science and works at the District as a biologist. Rosales, a graduate student at Penn State in Spatial Data Science, currently serves as the director of technical development. This award recognizes those who have contributed outstanding improvement to existing equipment or currently employed techniques used by a non-commercial mosquito control agency.

Launched in 2018, the District’s mosquitofish program provides free mosquitofish (Gambusia holbrooki) to residents as a biological solution to reduce mosquitoes breeding on their properties. Each fish is about 1-2 inches long and can eat up to 100 mosquito larvae a day. Mosquitofish are a great tool for abandoned swimming pools, rain barrels, livestock troughs, ditches and any other small area of contained water that can’t be drained.

This award recognizes Bales and Rosales’ collaboration to combine biological mosquito control methods with computational streamlining. Together, they enhanced mosquitofish distribution and solved technical challenges such as no-shows for pickup appointments, inconsistencies between digital forms and location data and data entry inaccuracies. Their teamwork led to rapid growth of the program, which has given away more than 35,000 fish to date.

“What started as a small initiative now features two 800-gallon tanks, a van outfitted with a large live well tank system to deliver fish directly to residents and a robust backend web system to ensure that everyone who wants fish is able to receive them,” said Dr. Keira Lucas, deputy executive director for Collier Mosquito Control District. “This program is incredibly popular with the residents we serve, and Rachel and Atom’s efforts have been integral in making mosquitofish a component of our integrated mosquito management plan.”

This marks the second year in a row that District employees have received this honor. Last year, Rufus “Butch” May, director of facilities maintenance, received the James W. Robinson Memorial Award for his commitment to enhancing the efficiency and safety of mosquito control operations, including the modification of District equipment, and managing two major hurricane recoveries and a large-scale remodel of District headquarters.

To learn more about the Florida Mosquito Control Association, visit their website at www.yourfmca.org. To learn more about the District or to request mosquitofish for your property, visit our website at www.cmcd.org.