AU: Concerns over bee shortage
January 6, 2009
Concerns over bee shortage
SARAH JAYE KLINGEL
9/07/2008 1:11:00 PM
LOCAL beekeeper Neil Bell of Dunbarton has lost nearly 40 per cent of his hives through starvation in the last three months.
The primary source of pollen, the native flowering trees jarrah, whitegum and redgum, did not flower this year which left the bees with no chance to store any source of nourishment for the winter, resulting in 30 out of 80 hives dying, starving to death.
Mr Bell has consequentially had to feed his bees on 25kg of caster sugar per fortnight since March this year, and will have to continue until late August, as the bees had no chance to produce their own food-store for the winter.
Mr Bell said that it was a catastrophe and that every other beekeeper in the region faced the same problem, meaning that many beekeepers would simply have to give up – the impact of which would be huge if the problem became statewide.
On top of the starvation issue is the lurking threat of infestation by disease-carrying Varroa mites, which have reached all corners of the world including New Zealand and Papua New Guinea, but are not yet in Australia.
An infested hive is weak and stressed with a lowered immune system, open to diseases such as Nosema.
Nosema is a virus capable of making bees ill, though there has now been a second strain of the virus that will wipe out even a healthy hive in the best of condition. WA Farmers held a conference last week to discuss the threats to bees.
The discussed methods against mites included pesticide, which is expensive at $20 per hive, per treatment and America has even been importing hives from WA just to pollinate specific crops.
The second possible treatment was to introduce specially-bred bees with better hygenic behaviour to hives, a program conducted on Rottnest Island. On top of the starvation problem facing beekeepers right now, the external threats are close and already impacting on the global economy and food supply.
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