Residents and businesses in South Perth, Como and Victoria Park are concerned about the impact the invasive Queensland fruit fly could have on their livelihoods.

The Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development placed the suburbs under a 30-day quarantine on April 17, after the pest was found in a garden.

Residents in the quarantine zone must remove ripe and ripening fruit every three days and treat it before disposal, with methods including freezing or heating.

A further 15km radius has been declared a buffer zone to prevent further spread of the pest.

DPIRD describes the Queensland fruit fly as “an invasive pest which attacks more than 300 species of fruits and vegetables and could seriously impact Western Australia’s horticulture industries and home-grown produce”.

Luka Marinovich lives in the quarantine zone and is worried about the prospect of not being able to eat from his own garden.

“For the general public who tend not to worry about stuff like that it wouldn’t matter, but to me who worries about the cost-of-living pressures, this affects me very much,” he says.

Having a garden with his own fresh produce has helped Mr Marinovich to save money.

“There’s the war and everybody has no fuel and no food, but I have my own,” he says.

Fellow resident Chris Sparsi, who believes his trees are affected by some variety of fruit fly, says the pest has been an issue in Perth for years.

“Theres been fruit fly outbreaks since I moved here 20 years ago, it’s nothing new,” he says.

Owner of Loose Produce Meredith Williams says the prospect of the Queensland fruit fly outbreak spreading would pose a problem for a big part of her business.

“It would have an enormous effect on us – if I had to throw everything out that didn’t sell every three days, there would be a lot of wastage and organic fruit and veg are very expensive,” she says.

“If they tightened regulations on us, I would probably stop offering fruit and veg to the customers.”

She says selling organic produce is a big driver of custom and losing that would be a huge loss to the business.

“It’s something that brings customers to the business; it would be frustrating to have to stop providing that to customers,” she says.

DPIRD public information manager for the Queensland fruit fly response, Marcus Visic, says there could be consequences if WA fails to eradicate the pest.

“If [Queensland fruit fly] were to establish, it would be really difficult to grow and enjoy anything in your own backyard,” he says.

Mr Visic says the department has measures in place to educate residents on what to do to eradicate the Queensland fruit fly.

“We need to prove that WA is free from Queensland fruit fly so our farmers can access export market,” he says.

“It gives WA a competitive advantage with exporting fruit – that’s why these measures guided by the National Fruit Fly Management Protocol are really important.”

Residents are being urged to follow the measures put in place by the DPIRD and dispose of fruits correctly.