Busy bees: John Edmonds tends a hive.
JOHN VAN KLAVEREN
AN IMPORTED parasite and a state park lock-out are threatening the viability of Geelong’s honey industry, according to a producer.
Edmonds Honey owner John Edmonds said the region’s bee keepers were on alert against the varroa mite.
Mr Edmonds maintains a sentinel hive at Geelong’s Shell refinery as part of a national port surveillance program against the mite, which kills European honey bees.
“Melbourne is a hotspot because of its container traffic,” he said.
“The varroa mite is carried by the Asian honey bee and there was a large infestation of it in Cairns. “It only takes a swarm to attach to a semi-trailer for it to turn up locally, so we’ve embarked on a program to eradicate it.”
Mr Edmonds said Geelong Bee Keepers club members would be part of a volunteer roster to help Queensland agricultural inspectors find and destroy Asian honey bee swarms.
“It is the cane toad of the apiary industry. The world honey bee population is diminishing rapidly because of this pest.”
Department of Primary Industry will put another sentinel hive at Port of Geelong as part of an extra $250,000 in State Government industry funding, a spokesperson confirmed.
Mr Edmonds said Geelong bee keepers were also struggling with a lock out from hive sites in state parks last year.
“They chucked us out of our sites and now they’re talking about putting tourism developments in there,” Mr Edmonds said.
“I used to have 10 winter sites at Anglesea in the Otways National Park but beekeepers will be limited to five sites to bid for.”
Agriculture and Food Security Minister Peter Walsh said State Government would reinstate bee site licences on public land.
“The assessment of the discontinued or lost sites is expected to be completed within the next few months,” Mr Walsh said.
“The matter of how the sites will be allocated to beekeepers is being resolved with beekeepers. A ballot process is one of the options being considered.
“Any process to allocate the lost sites back to industry will be transparent and equitable.”
