By Elsie Lange
While there’s anxiety brewing among local beekeepers after the detection of a potentially industry-devastating parasite in New South Wales, John Edmonds of Geelong’s Edmonds Honey is confident it will be kept under control.
The offending critters are called varroa mites, and were detected in late June in biosecurity surveillance hives at the Port of Newcastle. Since then, the mite has been detected at 38 premises in NSW, but are all linked to previously-known cases.
Tens of thousands of bees have been exterminated in an effort to eradicate the parasite and keep Australia the last continent free of the mite.
“In an ideal world, we’re 1000km away from where [varroa mite] is and under its own movement, it will only travel about 5km a year,” Mr Edmonds said.
“But, the trouble is, when beekeepers move anything around, they move the varroa.
“So how fast can a varroa travel? It travels as fast as a truck.”
Fast-breeding and tiny, the ‘Varroa destructor’ weakens and kills honey bee colonies and can transmit viruses, harming their ability to fly, pollinate and find food.
A varroa outbreak would be disastrous to the Australian agricultural industry too – with crops including apples, almonds and berries reliant on bees for pollination and production.
However, Mr Edmonds’ more than 40 years in the beekeeping industry has given him perspective – particularly because he’s seen a varroa mite outbreak thwarted in Victoria before.
“At this stage, I’m confident it’s looking good,” he said.
Mr Edmonds, who has been trained as part Victoria’s State Quarantine Response Team to protect the industry from incursions of exotic bee pests, said local beekeepers were encouraged to undertake their own sugar shake surveillance tests on their hives.
Australian Honey Bee Industry Council chief executive Danny Le Feuvre said while he was disappointed the mite had made its way to Australia, it wasn’t surprising.
“We’ve been told for years that it’s not the case of if, but when,” Mr Le Feuvre said.
“We as an industry have been prepared for this, we’ve got a number of plans in place to effectively eradicate and if we’re unsuccessful at that, we do have plans for living with the mite as well.”
