By many accounts, the honey bee population on Vancouver Island is down 90 per cent heading into the spring of 2010. After a die-off of 65 per cent in 2007 and a good recovery last year, honey bees are now teetering on the point of what Nowitz calls "a catastrophe."

At his peak a few short years ago, Nowitz managed 275 colonies capable of producing honey and pollinating mid-Island crops. He now manages 20 colonies, some of them showing signs of weakening while others are clinging to life.

We knew in September it might be a bad year, said Nowitz. Things were OK in November, but when many keepers checked their bees in January, they were dead or gone. At our latest meeting, beekeeper after beekeeper stood up and said they had lost all or almost all of their bees. We were shocked. These are top-notch beekeepers.

Nanaimo News Bulletin online

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