Ontario’s bee winter losses remain high

by SUSAN MANN

An Ontario Beekeepers’ Association survey of its members shows bee winter losses this year estimated to be in the range of 30 to 35 per cent.

And while that’s better than the 58 per cent in winter losses last year, it’s still higher than “our pre-neonicotinoid norm of 15 per cent,” it says in the association’s May 1 newsletter.

The association’s estimate is based on a survey of its members on winter losses. A total of 411 members answered the survey. The brevity of the survey limits its statistical certainty, the newsletter says. “But the number of responses gives us a degree of confidence that it provides a reasonable snapshot of what is happening in our bee yards.”

The Canadian Association of Professional Apiculturists, made up of provincial apiarists, researchers and bee industry technical officials, completes an annual report on bee matters including winter losses that’s due out in July. The Ontario association’s newsletter says “we’ll know more with greater certainty” when that report is released.

Association president Tibor Szabo says there are a number of factors that contributed to the reduction in bee winter losses this year compared to last year. One is “beekeepers are trying to keep their bees in locations that they have had few issues with than in the past.” There was also a lot of new colonies started and “that’s always going to increase winter success.”

But Ontario’s winter loss number this year isn’t a reason to celebrate, he says, noting that’s still an awful lot of bees that died. “It’s still about 40,000 colonies that were lost.”

Mark Brock, chair of Grain Farmers of Ontario, says the reduction in overwintering bee deaths this year is a good example of why the Ontario government’s process to implement neonicotinoid-treated seed regulations can be slowed down. Those regulations are slated to go into effect July 1 but many in the farm community are arguing the process is happening too fast and the government isn’t taking into considerations the agricultural industry’s concerns with the proposed measures.

“There isn’t a bee apocalypse that’s happening that I’m aware of,” Brock says.

The reduction in bee loss numbers may be an indication the farm community’s mitigation measures when using neonicotinoid-treated seeds introduced last year, such as dust deflectors on planters and the mandatory use of the fluency agent when planting, “are hopefully having an impact,” he says.

Brock says the reduction provides an opportunity to consider all matters impacting pollinator health and “come up with a more wholesome and holistic plan” than the government’s current proposal to cut the acreage of corn and soybeans in Ontario using neonicotinoid-treated seeds by 80 per cent by 2017.

But Szabo says the timelines for introducing treated seed regulations don’t need to be slowed down. “In reality, this whole process has already been as slow as molasses. If we go any slower, there won’t be any bees left.” BF