Varroa mite is now a permanent presence but the Almond Industry is actively lobbying to accelerate its spread by advocating for open borders to South Australia,Victoria and Queensland.
The positive aspect is that Fipronil baiting will cease and there will be no more killing of hives, putting an end to the devastating impact on wild hives indigenous bees and the livelihoods of beekeepers.
Regrettably, it has been a colossal government mismanagement with 30,000 hives lost under official control since the detection of varroa mite 15 months ago, amounting to a staggering $132 million loss. The double standard set by the @nswdpi that allowed commercial beekeepers to spread the mite while killing healthy hives and poison huge areas of nsw means many beekeepers will never trust the government again.
My heart goes out to the bees and beekeepers in NSW whose hives were needlessly destroyed and volunteers who’s time was wasted.
Moving forward, there will be a concerted effort from Savethebeesaustralia to find natural management solutions for mites within hives and to clean areas contaminated with fiprinol.
In a very sad turn of events the @nswdpi plan on using honeybees to be sacrificed to soak up the poison they dispersed.