Authorities will start baiting feral bees in a single red removal zone next week, more than 3 months after varroa mite was identified at the Port of Newcastle.
Key points:
- The baiting program will target feral European honey bees in varroa mite hotspots in NSW
- Feral bees are the very same types as those in handled hives however nest in tree hollows and other enclosed areas
- Authorities state ruining feral bees in red zones is a vital action in effectively eliminating the parasite
While ruining feral hives has actually been a crucial part of the NSW federal government’s varroa mite obliteration method, the Department of Primary Industries (DPI) stated it had actually been not able to do that while there were handled hives in the zones.
” Managed hive bees will get the bait and after that enter into their nest and after that the handled hive gets eliminated, there’s no chance then of recognizing whether there was a live hive or a dead hive sitting there,” chief plant security officer Satendra Kumar stated.
The DPI will utilize the insecticide fiprinol in baits to bring in the feral European honey bees, which take the toxin back to their hives.
The baiting program will begin in the 10- kilometre red removal zone of Jerry’s Plains in the Hunter area, where all 19 handled hives in the zone have actually currently been euthanased.
Dr Kumar stated the baiting stations would be kept track of and might be in location for approximately 12 months.
” We’ll do our preliminary then we’ll return [for] a variety of rounds and if you’re no longer drawing in any bees then that’s a sign there’s no longer any bees present,” he stated.
The DPI will continue euthanasing handled hives in other red zones prior to opening those as much as feral bee baits.
A big job
A leading bee professional stated all feral bees at a loss zones need to be ruined if elimination of varroa mite in Australia was to be effective.
Bruce White OAM, who worked for the NSW DPI as an apiary officer for more than 40 years, stated the difficulty was to discover every feral bee nest in the state’s red zones.
” There’s a huge quantity of feral bees because location so DPI, to remove varroa from this state, requires to eliminate every feral bee in every red zone to avoid the spread of varroa reinfecting hives in the future,” he stated.
Mr White stated there was still a great deal of bee activity in locations where handled hives had actually been eliminated, and stated he had actually experienced bees working blooms in locations where hives had actually been ruined.
He stated there utilized to be as numerous feral honey bees as handled bees in NSW.
” Our plants is extremely appropriate for honey bees due to the fact that of the eucalypts having a great deal of hollows in them, and bees are cavity occupants so for that reason there’s a great deal of feral bees,” he stated.
” And the proof is where numerous types are allegedly all being eliminated, there’s still a great deal of bees being observed on plants.”
Dr Kumar stated he did not believe the roll-out of the feral bee baiting program had actually come too late since authorities were yet to discover any termites in feral nests.
” But having stated that, there’s every probability, specifically in the locations where the problems of varroa mite were high, that there may be some bees bring the mite and for that reason we wish to ensure that we’ve eliminated those feral hives and bees,” he stated.