About Us
The Florida Mosquito Control Association (FMCA) is a not-for-profit association consisting of members from various fields including, but not limited to:
- Mosquito Control
- Public Health
- Entomology
- Medicine
- Military
- Engineering
The mission of the FMCA is to promote effective and environmentally sound control of disease-transmitting and pestiferous mosquitoes and other arthropods of public health importance, develop and enhance public interest, awareness, and support for the control of mosquitoes, and provide for the scientific advancement of members through our meetings, training and education.
Our History
Following a 1922 epidemic of dengue fever in Miami, on December 6 of that year, a conference was held in Daytona Beach to discuss the problems of mosquito control in Florida.
Approximately one hundred and fifty delegates attended the conference. On the following day, December 7, 1922, the Florida Anti-Mosquito Association (FAMA) was formally organized under the presidency of Colonel Joseph Y. Porter. Colonel Porter was the first State Health Officer and internationally known for his contributions to the control of yellow fever.
FAMA was the first organized gathering of mosquito workers in the state though efforts to control malaria began in Florida during World War I.
Recognizing the need for local organized mosquito control, the newly formed Florida Anti-Mosquito Association, along with the Florida State Board of Health Division of Entomology, sponsored legislation for the creation of organized mosquito control districts.
In 1925, Indian River County had the first mosquito control law passed by the State legislature allowing its freeholders to establish the Indian River Mosquito Control District funded by a special local tax. Over the next ten years, four more MCDs were established. This was the beginning of organized mosquito control in Florida, which currently has 50 separate mosquito control agencies throughout the state.
The Association and its members were also responsible for the creation, promotion, and passage of two State bills which greatly aided the cause of mosquito and arthropod control in Florida. The first bill which was passed in 1949 provided for limited matching of local funds for mosquito control in any county of the state. In 1953, a second bill passed, which provided for limited matching funds for the elimination of mosquito breeding sites and for the construction of sanitary landfills.
This bill also carried an additional appropriation to staff a laboratory for the purpose of conducting research to support the mosquito control programs of the state. This laboratory, originally known as the Entomological Research Center and presently as the Florida Medical Entomology Laboratory, is located in Vero Beach.
The Association also sponsored three Legislative Enabling Acts which dealt with the creation and operation of mosquito control districts.
One of these also allowed for the construction and staffing of a second state laboratory to conduct research on the control of mosquitoes, dog flies, yellow flies and other arthropods. This laboratory, originally known as the West Florida Arthropod Research Laboratory and later as the John A. Mulrennan, Sr., Public Health Entomology Research and Education Center (PHEREC), was located in Panama City. The PHEREC lab was closed on June 30, 2011.
In 1990 the FAMA’s name was changed to the Florida Mosquito Control Association (FMCA) to better reflect the true efforts of the association.