More than a year after varroa mite was first detected in Australia at the Port of Newcastle, the deadly bee parasite is still on the move, reaching new parts of New South Wales in recent weeks.
With bees responsible for pollinating much of the food we find at the supermarket and green grocer, authorities remain committed to trying to eradicate varroa mite from NSW, and for Australia to remain the only continent in the world to be free of the pest.
So far, the eradication strategy has seen millions of bees euthanised and nearby hives put under movement restrictions as new detections of varroa mite are found.
However, the NSW Department of Primary Industries (DPI) this week allowed the movement of hives in detection and surveillance zones in southern NSW.
So, why is varroa still such a threat and can it be eradicated?
What is varroa mite?
Varroa mites are tiny red-brown parasites that latch onto bees.
They mainly feed on honey bee larvae and pupae (bees transitioning between larvae and adults). They cause malformations in bees, transmit honey bee viruses and if left unchecked, can kill entire bee colonies.
The species, known as the Varroa destructor, is attracted to European honey bees, used by the Australian commercial bee industry.
The mite spreads when drone (male) bees move from hive to hive, and apiary to apiary.
Australia has experienced outbreaks before in Queensland in 2019 and Victoria in 2018, but they were contained.
No country has ever been able to successfully eradicate varroa mite once it establishes itself in the bee population.
The spread
The mite was first identified in sentinel hives at the Port of Newcastle in June last year, during routine surveillance.
Sentinel hives are hives that have been stationed near major ports and are closely monitored to detect incursions of varroa mite.
The federal government is currently investigating if the suspected illegal importation of infected live bees may have caused the outbreak.
Up until this week, each time the mite was discovered an eradication zone was established around the infestation and all hives within that zone were euthanased.
Despite these responses, what started as a few infested hives around Newcastle has quickly spread.
There are now 233 infested premises across more than 1.5 million hectares of red zones in New South Wales.
More than 28,000 hives have been euthanised, equating to about 40 million bees killed.
In July, the New South Wales government announced a funding boost of more than $30 million to support beekeepers, horticulture and cropping industries affected by the deadly bee parasite, taking the total funding to more than $64 million.
Impact on beekeepers
Australian Honey Bee Industry Council chief executive, Danny Le Feuvre said the outbreak has caused “heartbreak” for the entire industry.
Of the 2,000 commercial beekeepers in NSW, 300 have been directly impacted by varroa mite.
“Those guys that are impacted, their production has stopped, their businesses have stopped, they are unable to produce honey,” Mr Le Feurve said.
Steve Fuller is one of the largest honey producers on the NSW east coast and estimates the varroa mite outbreak has cost his business close to $1 million.
“At the moment, we’ve lost close to about 400 hives,” he said.
But it’s not just commercial beekeepers that have been affected, many hobby farmers have had their bees killed.
“The whole industry is hurting,” Mr Le Feurve said.
Some beekeepers who have had their hives euthanised have begun a class action, seeking up to $140 million in losses and damages from the state government.
Not just honey
NSW is home to about 46 per cent of all honey bees in Australia, making it one of the largest honey-producing states.
But the varroa outbreak is about much more than honey.
Most of the fresh fruit and vegetables we eat relies on pollination from bees to grow.
From almonds to avocados, cucumbers and cherries, 35 agricultural industries are reliant on bee pollination.
“Roughly two thirds of the food we eat has been put on our plates by the assistance of honey bees,” Mr Le Feurve said.
An entire industry is built around moving tens of thousands of bee hives to farming areas of the state when their crops come into pollination season.
But since the varroa mite outbreak, the strict rules on hive movement around New South Wales has made getting hives on farms difficult.
Last month, thousands of hives were sent to Victoria and southern New South Wales for the almond pollination season, but a varroa mite detection in the region created major complications.
The cherry season is next and hives are starting to arrive on properties in the central-west of the New South Wales, as trees begin to flower.
Tom Eastlakes has a cherry farm in Young and said while he has managed to source hives for his property and his season looks to be safe, he’s concerned for the future.
“There’s terrible reports of people suffering yield loss because the bees weren’t able to be deployed in their normal sense,” he said.
“For a lot of growers they are seeing this happen from afar, but luckily have been unaffected.
“But as this spreads … everyone’s gotta have a real think about, ‘how I am going to be affected by this and what’s the risk to my business?’.”
The NSW berry industry has already survived a pollination season affected by a varroa mite incursion on the Coffs coast.
While there had been initial fears that crops and yields would be impacted, Berries Australia executive director Rachel Mackenzie said production hasn’t been majorly affected.
The industry worked with state authorities to develop a pollination plan that allowed hives to be moved within emergency zones under strict conditions.
What is the future for consumers?
So far, major supermarkets Coles and Woolworths say they have not seen supply impacts from the current varroa mite outbreak.
If varroa mite cannot be eradicated in Australia, beekeepers are likely to be hit with increasing compliance and costs.
It is estimated that the establishment of varroa mite in Australia could result in losses of more than $70 million a year.
Senior Research Scientist at CSIRO John Roberts said while it was possible to live with the pest, maintaining the country’s varroa-free status should still be priority.
“Living with varroa does come at a cost. There’s a lot of extra management that needs to go on, so we certainly don’t want to be under the illusion that it would be simple to live with and manage,” Dr Roberts said.
“But we are in the position where we can learn a lot from, and use a lot of tools to manage varroa, from other places around the world.”
Cherry grower Mr Eastlakes said crop yield could also be impacted if varroa was to become naturalised.
“Look at the multiple countries around the world who have got [varroa mite] as an endemic species,” he said.
“If you look at the statistics of their production, their production always dips while they learn to live with varroa.
How have other countries coped?
New Zealand has been living with varroa mite since 2000.
Beekeepers there have adapted to life with the parasite with most using miticide strips to manage varroa.
The strips are placed in hives twice a year killing 99.9 per cent of the mite without harming bees.
Mark Goodwin is a bee scientist who helped lead New Zealand through its varroa response.
Dr Goodwin said that while eradication of the mite was not impossible in Australia “in theory”, the rapid spread of the mite in recent weeks indicates it may now be too late.
“The scenario of eradication is complicated enough but you also need to be very, very confident about where varroa is and isn’t before you go down that track,” he said.
There have been calls from the Australian beekeeping industry that eradication of varroa is no longer a viable strategy.
The Consultative Committee on Emergency Plants Pests (CCEPP) which is made up of industry bodies and all state, territory and commonwealth governments, has resolved this week that it was still technically feasible and cost beneficial to eradicate varroa destructor from Australia.
Posted , updated
