by SUSAN MANN
Beekeepers are nervously watching to see if small hive beetle will gain a greater wing hold in the province this year despite a government-imposed quarantine of bee and equipment movement in parts of southwestern Ontario.
Ontario’s chief veterinarian issued a declaration Monday under the Bees Act to establish the quarantine area for bees in Essex County and part of Chatham-Kent. The quarantine was set up to prevent the spread of small hive beetle, Aethina tumida, to other parts of the province and to protect the integrity of Ontario’s beekeeping industry.
Tibor Szabo, vice president of the Ontario Beekeepers’ Association, says the province’s measures may not be enough to prevent the beetle’s spread because the beetle can fly up to 14 kilometres, it can infiltrate bumble bee colonies and wild bumble bee nests and it can be transported on rotting fruit, especially melons, where it reproduces.
“It’s not an easy thing to contain,” he explains.
Szabo says bumble bees aren’t covered by regulations and therefore they can be moved in and out of the quarantine zone.
Agriculture ministry spokesperson Susan Murray says bumble bees aren’t covered under the Bees Act but the government is working on best management practices for them.
Murray says part of the reason the zone extends beyond the infested area of Essex County is in recognition of the beetles’ flying ability.
The government declaration means people can’t move their bee colonies or equipment within or out of the quarantine area without prior written approval from the provincial apiarist. They must also report any previous unreported findings of small hive beetle to the agriculture ministry, participate in surveillance and treatment directed by the provincial apiarist and follow specific biosecurity measures listed in the declaration, such as footwear cleansing and utensil disinfection.
Murray says about 50 beekeepers are located in the quarantine area. It’s too early to say how long the quarantine will be in place.
Szabo says other beekeepers outside the quarantine area, such as queen bee producers, are also affected because some provinces won’t allow imports of any bees coming from within a 100-kilometre radius of a quarantine zone established by a provincial agriculture ministry.
Small hive beetle is an emerging and invasive pest of the European honeybee. It is established in most regions of the United States and there have been confirmed findings in southern Quebec and Western Canada. It damages beekeeping equipment and spoils honey.
The beetle’s presence was confirmed in Essex Country last September. The agriculture ministry says in a press release it immediately quarantined 16 beekeeping yards and one processing facility in the county under the Animal Health Act.
The specific boundaries of the quarantine are all of Essex County and the part of the Municipality of Chatham-Kent lying south-westward of a line made up of a Town Line Road, Pump Road and Merlin Road (also known as County Road 7), as if these roadways extended continuously from points of intersection with the shorelines of Lake St. Clair and Lake Erie.
In January, the beetle was added as a named pest under the regulations of the Ontario Bees Act. BF
Comments
Is anybody doing an experiment with a Warre bee hive.
Does allowing the bees to go for longer periods without being disturbed by beekeeper inspection allow the bees to contain the beetles within their own propolis, it would be interesting for all to know.
Many thanks
David
Is it not a good ideato start to work with the genetics of feral colonies? If the survive without management, they should thrive with it.
the agriculture branch is out to lunch on this effort as usual. the bumble bee is the only hope , as a survivor of gov. management programs as a bee keeper i believe the only hope to get out of the mess beekeepers have is to get rid of the gov. bee mismanagement program and open are borders to import of bees from the U.S. the gov. has destroyed what was once a thriving business beekeeping was once the the largest in the world ,in Canada and is now almost non existent, we need bees to pollinate,so we can eat. the mess that exists in the bee industries is gov. inflicted. bees do not see borders bee disease is caused mostly by one major thing stress, bees are not native , and do not survive our long winters,without the fresh bees from the U.S. we will never get back our bee industry, Now we can get disease resistant bees from the states for half the price we pay for replacement bees now that are already stressed and Carrie disease
All I can say is...Emerald Ash Bettle...How's that working out for you? Quarantine my a$$...you've got it, so figure out how to live with it...nuff said.
How about stopping these little crittures in there trasitional stage from larvae entering the ground and eventually as the beetle,and attack the little ground dwelling bas*3tards using active nematodes.....hmmmm
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