The number of varroa mite cases in New South Wales has risen to 264, with the confirmation of the state’s most northerly detection to date.
Key points:
- A new risk-based approach will apply to new detections of varroa mite
- Varroa mite has been detected at Barcoongere, the most northerly case so far
- A beekeeper with 2,000 hives in the Barcoongere zone says berry pollination is at risk
In addition to this new detection in the state’s north at Barcoongere, north of Coffs Harbour, there have been an additional nine infested premises detected in the Kempsey cluster.
On a Friday a new plan was adopted at the National Management Group (NMG) meeting for tackling varroa mite.
The NMG supported the new more risk-based approach to new eradication zones, based on the advice of the Consultative Committee for Emergency Plant Pests (CCEPP).
A scientific risk assessment will apply to each new detection, with a number of elements considered to determine zone size and euthanasia of hives, similar to what’s been applied to red zones in the Sunraysia and Riverina regions.
The NSW Department of Primary Industries’ deputy director general of biosecurity and food safety, John Tracey, said the size of future red and purple zones could be smaller than current zones, on a case by case basis depending on the level of risk identified.
“So, things like length of time the infestation’s been there, the mite load, the certainty of links and traces, and local factors that may influence the spread of varroa [will be taken into account],” he said.
Dr Tracey said the new approach would hopefully reduce the impact on beekeepers.
“It allows more beekeepers to get back to business, and it will reduce impact in terms of the number of hives that need to be euthanased and the ongoing surveillance cost associated with a broader zone,” he said.
Beekeepers want more resources
Australian Honey Bee Industry Council chief executive Danny Le Feuvre said he did not think it would make beekeepers happy, but he hoped it would provide them greater certainty.
“What this does do is just speeds up the process and the decision making to make sure that beekeepers aren’t left in limbo for weeks on end,” he said.
“The CCEPP will be able to make a decision within 24 hours [based] on what those new detections look like.
“It also allows us to move forward in the short term, while we are still trying to figure out through the bureaucracy process, what the future of the response is.”
But the Crop Pollination Association of Australia’s president, Clarenza beekeeper Steve Fuller, said beekeepers needed direction and resources.
“I think they’re grasping at straws, I really feel that this is just another way of trying to pull the wool over the beekeepers [eyes],” he said.
He is concerned about the long term impact of the control program.
“Every time we find an area that goes red, we’re not allowed back in there for three years, and if we go back in there, we can’t take the hives out,” he said.
Berry pollination at risk
The DPI’s deputy incident controller Shannon Mulholland said the Barcoongere detection had been deemed high-risk under the NMG’s new management plan, and a 10-kilometre eradication zone would still apply, with hives to be euthanased.
“There were several hives that tested positive and the mite load was reasonably high, so that would be consistent with [the eradication zone] being present for a number of months,” she said.
The Barcoongere case has been traced back to Kempsey, where there are now 45 detections, and linked to a legal movement of hives six months ago.
Steve Fuller has 2,000 hives in the newly established red and purple zones.
“It’s a staging area for us, we’re getting ready to move in onto blackberries and the raspberries [elsewhere],” he said.
“I’ve probably moved hives in and out of there 20 times, all under strips and washes [testing for varroa mite], so this really puts a lot of doubt.
“Now I’ve got berry growers worried about not being able to produce berries again, so it’s starting to have a flow-on effect.”
The DPI confirmed that the nine new Kempsey cases were within current eradication zones.
“We’re still building that risk profile of that region, and it’s really important that we continue that delimiting surveillance and understand exactly how widespread the levels of infestation are,” said Dr Mulholland.
“That’s also providing really critical information back to our tracing teams, as we work our way back on some pretty promising leads to identify what that index case [at Kempsey] was.”
