Abstract Introduction of two tachinid parasitoid species in 1951 for biocontrol of the sugarcane borer resulted in good control. Native and imported parasitoids were evaluated in the 1960s for control of fruit flies and noctuid moths on various fruits in Dominica, but none of them was effective. Several other imports of exotic natural enemies in this period for classical biocontrol of banana weevil, coffee leaf miner and diamondback moth were not successful. Complete island-wide control of the citrus blackfly was obtained after releases of two exotic parasitoids at the end of the 1990s.