In short:
An outbreak of the destructive varroa mite parasite has been confirmed for the first time in Victoria.
The detection comes after a major migration of beehives arrived in Victoria for the annual pollination of almond and stonefruit crops.
What’s next?
A national management plan for varroa will attempt to slow the spread of the pest through increased surveillance and treatment of affected hives.
An outbreak of the destructive varroa mite parasite has been confirmed for the first time in Victoria, just weeks after Australia’s largest annual movement of honey-bee hives began arriving in the state.
More than 200,000 bee hives from across Australia’s east coast have in August been trucked into the Sunraysia region — which covers north-west victoria and south-west NSW — to pollinate its almond and stonefruit crops ahead of spring.
Victorian Agriculture Minister Ros Spence confirmed the outbreak had been detected at Nangiloc, near Mildura, and involved hives that had entered Victoria from NSW.
“We are managing the situation,” Ms Spence said.
“Agriculture Victoria is working with the affected beekeeper and others that are nearby to minimise the spread and to guide those management actions going forward.”
Varroa mite is a parasite that kills honey-bee colonies and transmits viruses to its hosts.
Its detection in Victoria marks the first time varroa has been discovered outside of NSW since the pest was first detected in NSW in 2022.
Ms Spence said 12 Agriculture Victoria varroa development officers were on the ground in northern Victoria to support beekeepers following the detection, and a restriction had been lifted for beekeepers purchasing chemicals to eradicate the pest.
This year’s pollination season in Victoria is taking place after NSW authorities gave up the fight to eradicate varroa mite in September and declared the pest endemic in their state.
‘A matter of time’
Victorian Apiarists Association president John van Weeghel said the spread of the pest into Victoria had been inevitable.
“It was as certain as the sun coming up tomorrow morning,” Mr van Weeghel said.
“It will be a matter of time now, hopefully years, before it will spread across Victoria,” he said.
In February, 26 industry groups that rely on honey bees to pollinate their crops agreed to a national management plan for the pest.
The federal government has allocated $100 million to fund 32 specialist staff to slow the spread of the pest.
Mr van Weeghel said testing for varroa in Victoria would now “intensify drastically”.
As the pest spread, he said Victorians could expect to see feral populations of European honey bees die out, but native Australian bees would not be affected.
“That will be a benefit for us … [the feral hives] will not be spreading disease anymore,” he said.
Mr van Weeghel said people with backyard fruit trees would find the trees no longer pollinated by feral honey bees, and would need “managed beehives” to pollinate the trees.
Key stories of the day for Australian primary producers, delivered each weekday afternoon.
Posted , updated
