Australian Beekeepers worse fears are becoming reality as stowaway contaminated bees from overseas have infected colonies in Newcastle.

Australia is paying a major price for our reliance of overseas imports and relaxed bio security laws. 

The Bees with Varroa most likely arrived on a shipping container from Asia.

Thousands of colonies will be killed in a hope the Varroa mite will not spread across the country.

Varroa mite can only spread 3 to 6 km a year naturally but if a contaminated hive is moved it can spread a lot quicker. If contaminated hives make it to the Almond pollination this year between 40 to 90 percent of Australian honeybees could die. 

Newcastle apiary Urban Humm will tragically lose all their hives. Registered Beekeepers will be compensated. At this stage it is believed that indigenous Australian bees will not be adversely effected. 

Read here

Destruction of bees and hives.

(1) A person to whom this Part applies must make the bees and any hive of which they have care, custody or control available for destruction and removal by an authorised officer for the purposes of disposal and eradication.
(2) An authorised officer is authorised to destroy the bees and a hive by:
(a) euthanising the bees,
(b) making the dead hive bee-proof,
(c) cleaning the location of the hive at the premises to remove the dead bees and any apiary products,
(d) burning or destroying the hive at the premises or at other premises for burning or destruction at another location, and
(e) any other destruction, disposal or eradication functions necessary to eradicate all hosts of Varroa mite and to prevent the survival of undetected hosts within the emergency zone.
14 Fipronil Baiting
(1) An authorised officer may place fipronil baits on any premises in the Varroa mite
eradication zone.
(2) The fipronil baits must be used in accordance with all Australian Pesticides and Veterinary Medicines Authority label directions and permit conditions.

(1) All persons in charge of bees or apiary equipment in the Varroa mite surveillance emergency zone must comply with and implement the emergency measures specified in this Part.

(5) A person in charge of any bees and hives must notify the Department of the location of those bees and hives

No beekeeping to be done in NSW Australia. 

The order that has been applied across NSW is for a 'General Emergency Zone'. This means that there no movement of bees and no 'tempering' ie working hives adding supers etc. There is an exemption that you can conduct surveillance in the form of sugar shake or alcohol wash to check for mites. It is anticipated that the order will only be in place for a week or two. This will buy time to complete the necessary tracing work.

I will try to keep you informed but more infected hives in Newcastle were reported to savethebeesaustralia yesterday.

The DPI has confirmed the infection now

https://www.instagram.com/tv/CfSm2g2FaqP/?igshid=NmZiMzY2Mjc=

I will keep you all updated.