This is in response to Janet Wilson.

Yes, Mount Pearl is in Newfoundland. It’s a bedroom community adjacent to the larger St. John’s and has a human population of ~23,000.

I am on the board of the Newfoundland and Labrador Beekeeping Association and I am acutely aware of the benefits and challenges of our Varroa-free status.  In fact we are currently in the process of developing a Varroa Action Plan (VAP), and I have had some input with BEE-L participants in the past with respect to some elements of it.  We are working with Dr. David Peck, one of Tom Seeley’s former PhD students, on the development of this plan. More on this in future BEE-L posts.  Peck and I hope to present a paper about the VAP at the upcoming Apimondia congress in Montreal.

The best explanation for Mount Pearl’s exorbitant permitting fees is provided by Justin Kay in his post yesterday. “It isn't as if they are targeting beekeepers per se. Those fees are the same fees any individual that wants to ‘rezone’ a piece of property, or perform a special activity at a location.”  The City’s permitting policy has nothing to do with Varroa or any other threat to honey bee health.  

We have just commenced discussions with City officials about this problem and I am optimistic we can fix it. Contributions to this thread by various BEE-L participants as well as in response to correspondence provide information that we can use in our persuasive efforts with the City.

Re. importation, we had a controversial importation of packages from Western Australia in April 2016.  However, the controversy was not related to Varroa given that WA is also Varroa-free and we have some confidence in Western Australian zoosanitary infrastructure as well as the Canadian Food Inspection Agency’s importation protocols, at least as far as Varroa is concerned.  The only other recent importation proposal that caused us concern in recent years involves the importation of quads of exotic Bombus impatiens (bumble bees) for commercial cranberry pollination, which we strenuously opposed.  The importation was not permitted, and we are now in discussion with government and the cranberry growers association to find alternative ways to satisfy their pollination requirements.

That’s it in a nutshell.

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