The national body of government and industry experts advising the Varroa mite eradication program has backed a plan to safely move bee hives located in recently established eradication (red) zones in Southern New South Wales.
NSW Department of Primary Industries (DPI) Chief Plant Protection Officer Shane Hetherington said the National Management Group, which includes all state and Commonwealth governments and representatives from the apiary and pollination dependent industries, responded to a clear biosecurity risk.
"Southern New South Wales is currently hosting the largest concentration of managed European honeybee hives in Australia to provide pollination services for almond orchards," he said.
"Recent tracing of beehives moved from Varroa mite emergency eradication (red) zones in the Kempsey region led to the identification of four infested premises at Euston, Balranald, Euroley and Nericon.
"The creation of eradication (red) and surveillance (purple) zones centred on those sites would normally prevent the further movement of all hives in those areas.
"However, floral resources are rapidly declining as the flowering period finishes and that creates an escalating biosecurity risk, as bees will naturally start to look for other food sources potentially leading to bee swarming or robbing behaviour.
"Due to the sheer numbers of hives in the region, it's therefore imperative that we quickly move hives out of the area to more plentiful food sources or we risk the likelihood of the bees travelling further afield and potentially spreading the Varroa mite."
The following movement management strategy will apply to Apiarists within immediate vicinity of the four identified sites:
Beekeepers with hives within a 0-3 kilometre radius of one of the four infested premises at Balranald, Euroley, Euston and Nericon:
- Hives will be subject to euthanasia and will be eligible for Owner Reimbursement Costs, even if there is a change in the response plan,
- Must not move bees, hives or apiary equipment out of or within the Varroa mite eradication emergency zone under this Division, and must:
- Permit an authorised officer to insert miticide strips into all hives and sticky mats into a representative sample of hives for surveillance, diagnosis and control of Varroa mite.
Beekeepers with hives within a 3 - 6 kilometre radius of one of the four infested premises at Balranald, Euroley, Euston and Nericon, may:
- Move those hives anywhere within the eradication (red) zone they are currently in, provided the destination is not closer than 3km to the infested premises.
- Move those hives into one of the surveillance (purple) zones at Euroley or Nericon, provided miticide strips have been placed in the hives for at least 48 hours prior to the movement.
- Beekeepers may move the hives once within the eradication (red) zone and once into the Euroley or Nericon surveillance (purple) zone, and hives must not be moved from that destination.
Beekeepers with hives within a 6 - 10 kilometre radius of one of the four infested premises at Balranald, Euroley, Euston and Nericon, may:
- Move those hives to any point that is within the greater NSW General Emergency (Blue) Zone, provided miticide strips are placed in the hives on arrival at the destination and remain in the hives for at least 42 days.
- Further movement of those hives will be subject to surveillance requirements.
Full details are included in the Biosecurity (Varroa Mite) Emergency Order, available from www.dpi.nsw.gov.au/varroa.
"We acknowledge this is a unique situation that seeks to balance risk and protect livelihoods and industries," Dr. Hetherington added.
"We thank our state's beekeepers for their continued perseverance, understanding and cooperation."
This program change is included in a new Emergency Order gazetted today, which also updates the total number of infested premises to 233 following the detection of Varroa mite in hives near Boggabri and at Hat Head.
Both the Boggabri and Hat Head sites are directly linked to the Kempsey cluster through the movement of hives and proximity to infested premises.
