Importing package bees by the truckload?

[Chris B]

https://secure.fera.defra.gov.uk/beebase/public/BeeDiseases/importReport.cfm

Interestingly it shows absolutely nothing from NZ for 2014.

 

[mbc]

https://secure.fera.defra.gov.uk/beebase/public/BeeDiseases/importReport.cfm

Interestingly it shows absolutely nothing from NZ for 2014.

Thanks. I am surprised.
Australia is a continent mind, wheras Italy is a much denser, closer and more interlinked country.
Out of 27 'official' consignments imported from Italy this year (both queens and packages), only 8 were inspected! I guess none of the "under the radar" consignments were.
https://secure.fera.defra.gov.uk/beebase/public/BeeDiseases/euImportReport.cfm

 

[DanBee]

Well that strengthens the point. To spell it out: individual bee farmers are business people. But, collectively, UK beekeeping is not a business but a hobby. The "business" side of it contributes <14% of honey consumption and some proportion of pollination (ask Dave Goulson how much...). So no argument that this or that should be tolerated because of a strategic need for the industry holds up. The concerns of "hobbyists" should dominate because collectively bee farmers are the same. If they could work out a way to quadruple output, then that would change.

Except your logic falls over if you knew that 1/3rd of the colonies in the UK are kept by circa 360-400 individuals who rely on beekeeping for some or all of their income: bee farmers.

Suddenly that small and largely invisible group becomes a lot more significant when we are talking about pollination services to agriculture - how many of the thousands of keen amateurs routinely move strong spring colonies onto farm or orchard crops at circa 1 hive per acre stocking levels?

It's nice to have a bogey man to take a pop at, but I think, with the greatest of respect, that much of the caricature of bee farmers described in this thread comes from watching too many US CCD documentaries and not from personal experience and acquaintances

 

[Norton]

The real danger is not imported queens. It is when, if it hasn't already, the SHB gets into a fruit distribution warehouse and hitches a free ride to everywhere.

 

[Hebeegeebee]

The enemy has managed to get through the gate, is inside the EU fortress and is reproducing and spreading without apparent problems. The next few months are going to be interesting to say the least.

Agreed. Interesting and probably alarming too!

Are you confident the Cyprus will keep the enemy at bay?

 

[DanBee]

The real danger is not imported queens. It is when, if it hasn't already, the SHB gets into a fruit distribution warehouse and hitches a free ride to everywhere.

The Italian case is centred around a port. Was it the movement of bees or fruit? Will we ever know for sure?

 

[TryingToLetThemBee]

Australia is a continent mind, wheras Italy is a much denser, closer and more interlinked country.[/url]

Is that a Peroni v Fosters effect, do you think, mbc?

 

[mbc]

The real danger is not imported queens. It is when, if it hasn't already, the SHB gets into a fruit distribution warehouse and hitches a free ride to everywhere.

It can survive on fruit, but will only really breed on hive products, pollen and brood and honey combs, so the real danger is not fruit or soil, but bees and bee related materials.

 

[Norton]

Migrates on the fruit and infests hives wherever it ends up.

I'm not confident about it not ever invading here, but as the UK and Cyprus are both islands surely it will be a bit harder for it to get in, not like sharing a land border. The volume of fruit into the UK is about 100x/day compared to Cyprus, calculation based on population.

 

[alanf]

It can survive on fruit, but will only really breed on hive products, pollen and brood and honey combs, so the real danger is not fruit or soil, but bees and bee related materials.

I'm not personally familiar with the SHB life cycle, but according to the literature it includes pupation in the soil around the hive. Adults fly to infect new colonies and can survive for a while on fruit. Yes, an infection is more likely if the SHB is in hive products. That is controllable by movement restriction and inspection. Any specific load of fruit or other agriculture/horticulture product is less likely to be infectious but there's a lot of it being transported and no restrictions on movement or inspection.

Ports and airports are considered "high risk", not because they handle a few queens but because of the volume of goods and variety of sources. Just from looking around the supermarkets, the UK probably imports more fruit and veg from Spain, but Italy must be number two or three.

 

[Hivemaker.]

When SHB arrives the honey extracting will need to be done quite quickly... or there could be a lot of messed up combs.

 

[TryingToLetThemBee]

When SHB arrives the honey extracting will need to be done quite quickly... or there could be a lot of messed up combs.

So if it's inevitable any import bans or controls are a waste of time?

 

[Hivemaker.]

So if it's inevitable any import bans or controls are a waste of time?

Won't stop them messing up the combs, no.

 

[mbc]

Won't stop them messing up the combs, no.

Import bans could very well avoid them messing up our combs if we manage to keep the blighters out through better bio security.

 

[Hivemaker.]

Import bans could very well avoid them messing up our combs if we manage to keep the blighters out through better bio security.

But we won't be able to keep them out, we won't get better bio security... and so we will need to deal with our combs faster.

 

[mbc]

But we won't be able to keep them out, we won't get better bio security... and so we will need to deal with our combs faster.

Aye, you're probably right, but we might as well make that eventuality as far into the future as possible by lobbying for tighter controls in the mean time.

 

[BeeJayBee]

Ports and airports are considered "high risk", not because they handle a few queens but because of the volume of goods and variety of sources. Just from looking around the supermarkets, the UK probably imports more fruit and veg from Spain, but Italy must be number two or three.

Import bans could very well avoid them messing up our combs if we manage to keep the blighters out through better bio security.

Some people bring bushmeat into the country in their suitcases, it's illegal but they still do it because they can't see why not. At the moment it is perfectly legal to bring fruit etc from elsewhere in Europe, and I think a ban would be unenforceable not least because of the huge amount of cross-Channel traffic.

I don't know if it's worth adding a link to the 2012 Beecraft article "Contingency Planning for the Small Hive Beetle", it does have the map showing sentinel apiaries in England and Wales. I'm guessing there is a map somewhere showing them for Scotland and Northern Ireland.

There's a map on Beebase too. Click the option that says "Exotic Risk Points" and then zoom out to see the whole country.

The thing is that there are other things going on in the world at the moment, so finding the wrong sort of beetle in Italy isn't very important to the media. If they did pick up the news then there might be some pressure from the wider population to 'do something', but in reality it's probably already too late.

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

Except your logic falls over if you knew that 1/3rd of the colonies in the UK are kept by circa 360-400 individuals who rely on beekeeping for some or all of their income: bee farmers.

Suddenly that small and largely invisible group becomes a lot more significant when we are talking about pollination services to agriculture - how many of the thousands of keen amateurs routinely move strong spring colonies onto farm or orchard crops at circa 1 hive per acre stocking levels?

It's nice to have a bogey man to take a pop at, but I think, with the greatest of respect, that much of the caricature of bee farmers described in this thread comes from watching too many US CCD documentaries and not from personal experience and acquaintances

Well that strengthens the point. To spell it out: individual bee farmers are business people. But, collectively, UK beekeeping is not a business but a hobby. The "business" side of it contributes <14% of honey consumption and some proportion of pollination (ask Dave Goulson how much...). So no argument that this or that should be tolerated because of a strategic need for the industry holds up. <ADD>The concerns of "hobbyists" should dominate because collectively bee farmers are the same. If they could work out a way to quadruple output, then that would change.</ADD>

Just goes to prove that London is not just a different country - but another world

 

[TryingToLetThemBee]

Pete; you're right, but if we accept you're right then anyone who doesn't give a damn will just bring stuff in willy nilly because why not and I find that depressing and annoying in equal measure because it ain't gonna be me.

 

[TryingToLetThemBee]

Just goes to prove that London is not just a different country - but another world

It is; the world of the 2-bedroom "mansion" meant to bankroll the whole deal because we can do sums like saying that an industry among hobbyists where that industry is meting 14pct of demand needs to consider the interests of those hobbyists.