An all out assault on honeybees using the poison Fipronil in pristine rugged bushland between Newcastle and Sydney should be called off immediately as new cases of the mite are being detected.
The recent cases have not been announced by the NSW DPI but commercial beekeepers have been alerted that varroa has hit wild populations of bees in the Sydney basin.
Calamity reigns as it now needs to be acknowledged that the outskirts of the varroa infestation was not found before the rash decision was made to poison and kill so many healthy bees and that commercial hives legally moving within the blue zones may be carrying the mite.
Victorian and Queensland DPI would be negligent not to close the borders to NSW hives but intense lobbying from the Almond industry means unfortunately Victorian DPI are likely to decide to “let Varroa rip” in a super spreading event at this years Almond pollination.
Smaller beekeepers and farms are losing income, crops and are woefully under compensated" the structure of the decision making committee means that larger industries have veto power over any potential restrictions that would impact profits. Those without industry representation are left out in the cold.
As usual environmental groups and indigenous custodians have no say at all.
Varroa is so hard to detect and the incentive to admit a positive test so low it may take sometime before interstate cases are confirmed.
Unique honey regions like the MorningtonPeninsula in Victoria are considering a rational measure of administering a policy where bees-hives are allowed out but not allowed back in.
David Gill
“It makes sense to protect not only our honeybees but also our indigenous bees and fauna. It would be devastating to have a Fipronil poisoning program here. We have thousands of recreational beekeepers here and resident bees are particularly healthy we will do everything we can to keep the mite out and if that means having to stop potentially infected bees from returning from pollination we will explore than avenue.”