Pacific entomologists and quarantine officers this week learnt to identify invasive ant species that can prove disastrous to island economies.
Organised by University of the South Pacific and Secretariat of the Pacific Community, the three-day workshop at the USP Laucala campus focussed on creating awareness on the invasive species of ants in the Pacific.
Pacific Island Partnership Network for Taxonomy coordinator Gilianne Brodie said they were training locals to be more self-reliant so they could help economically.
"We are doing surveillance on ants collected from different parts of Fiji and trying to find out the invasive species," she said.
New Zealand bio-security scientist, Dr Disna Gunawardana said the training would allow experts from island countries to identify invasive species.
"Fiji has lot of introduced ants and invasive species have been established here but I think people are living with it," she said.
She said the invasive species they were looking for was found in Vanuatu and there is a possibility that they could have come here. That, she said, was why people needed to be trained to identify them.
She said the species they needed identified was the Red Imported Fire Ant (RIFA) or solenopsis invicta and the Little Fire Ant (LFA) or wasmannia auropunctata.
Ms Brodie said the SPC believed the training would greatly enhance the sustainability of invasive ant surveillance by providing countries and territories with the capability to conduct their own ant identification.
