Plant pest surveillance

On this page

• Plant Health Surveillance Unit contact information
• Annual plant protection survey reports
• Survey tools
• Plant pest fact sheets
• Survey protocols for regulated plant pests
• Plant pest cards
• References
• Asian longhorned beetle simulation sites
• Invasive Plant Field Guide
• Field Guide to Jewel Beetles (Coleoptera: Buprestidae) of Northeastern North America
• Exotic Forest Insect Guidebook
• Intercepted Plant Pest List

The national plant protection survey program provides information in support of import, export, and domestic regulatory programs and is the basis for sound regulatory decisions.

Pest surveys are required to maintain claims of "pest-free" status of an area, to detect new populations of quarantine pests, and to delimit populations of quarantine pests with limited distributions in Canada. Pest surveys are also an integral part of control and eradication programs.

The Plant Health Surveillance Unit:

• plans, coordinates, and administers the national survey program
• designs new surveys and refines survey techniques and tools
• provides training, technical support, and surveillance tools for program and operational staff
• liaise with other departments, industry and external parties
• maintains the national repository of survey data
• develops national survey protocols, inspection guides, survey calendar and information sheets

To be notified when new information is available on plant health related topics, please subscribe to our Email Notification Services and follow us on Twitter at @CFIA_Canada.

For more information on plant protection surveys and on the survey tools below, please contact us.

Annual plant protection survey reports

• Survey report 2018-2019
• Infographic – Survey report 2018-2019
• Survey report – Previous years
• 2018 British Columbia Japanese beetle survey report

Survey tools

Various survey tools have been developed to help CFIA staff, partners, stakeholders and the general public to identify plant pests of concern. The detection of pests not known to occur in Canada or regulated pests outside of the regulated area must be reported to the Plant Health Surveillance Unit or to your local CFIA office.

Survey tools that are available include:

Plant pest fact sheets

• Insects
• Plant Diseases
• Invasive Plants
• Nematodes and others

Survey protocols for regulated plant pests

• Contact us for more details

Plant pest cards

The Plant Pest Cards have been produced to enhance the awareness and recognition of plant pests by any interested stakeholders.

To request printed copies of the Plant Pest Cards, contact the Plant Pest Surveillance Unit.

Cards available:

• Apple maggot
• Asian gypsy moth
• Asian longhorned beetle
• Blueberry maggot
• Box tree moth
• Brown spruce longhorn beetle
• Emerald ash borer
• European cherry fruit fly
• European oak leafroller
• Gypsy moth
• Hemlock woolly adelgid
• Japanese Beetle
• Khapra beetle
• Kudzu
• Oak Wilt
• Pink gypsy moth
• Plum Pox Virus
• Red-necked longhorn beetle
• Spotted lanternfly
• Tomato leaf miner
• Verticillium wilt on canola
• Yellow starthistle

References

• Cerceris fumipennis - a biosurveillance tool for Emerald Ash Borer
• Asian longhorned beetle: An unwanted invasive species (poster)
• Detecting signs and symptoms of Asian longhorned beetle injury: Training guide

Asian longhorned beetle simulation sites

Training sites with simulated signs of ALHB attack have been set up in various locations in Canada. Signage has been placed next to the replicated infestation to provide the public with information on ALHB and to identify the area as a simulation site only.

For municipalities: if you are interested in having an ALHB simulation site set-up in your municipality, please contact us.

Invasive Plant Field Guide

This guide is designed to be used as a key reference guide during the invasive plant survey. For questions about the guide, contact the Invasive Alien Species section.

Field Guide to Jewel Beetles (Coleoptera: Buprestidae) of Northeastern North America

This field guide covers 164 jewel beetle species for northeastern North American (Manitoba and eastward) and is intended to assist municipal foresters, arborists, technicians, entomologists, woodlot owners and naturalists in recognizing specimens encountered in the field.

Exotic Forest Insect Guidebook

This book is designed for public and private sector Canadians who work in the areas of tree health and arboriculture. This book focuses more on insect descriptions, host tree preferences, damage symptoms and geographic distribution rather than insect biology in order to increase the probability of finding exotic pests during tree health assessments.

Intercepted Plant Pest List

The Intercepted Plant Pest List is prepared by the Ottawa Plant Laboratory, located in Ottawa, Ontario. This list summarizes detections from laboratory submissions of plant pests found in plants, plant products, passenger baggage, used equipment, cargo, mail, and other carriers entering Canada.

The identifications in bacteriology, entomology (including mites and terrestrial molluscs), mycology, and nematology are performed by staff of the Ottawa Plant Laboratory, with support from specialists at the Canadian Forest Service, Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada and reference to the national biological collections.

Virology identifications are performed by the Sidney Laboratory - Plant Viruses and Virus-Like Diseases, located in Sidney, British Columbia. Potato Pest identifications are performed by the Charlottetown Plant Health Laboratory, located in Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island.

For a copy of the Intercepted Plant Pest List or for more information please contact Diagnostics Végétaux Plant Diagnostics.