Dear Mr. Lawrence,
I would be extremely careful about importing any honey bees as this
practice is fraught with all kinds of potential problems. It is the way
many exotics have been brought to all parts of the world. Guam should know
this very well, given television shows here emphasizing the brown tree
snake phenomenon. I would strongly recommend trying to work with what is
already there, rather than importing something that in the end might make
the Guam situation worse than it is.
At any rate, I am passing on this note to the bee-l discussion list.
Perhaps someone from Australia or New Zealand might be of some help.
"lawrence, john h." wrote:
>
> Dr. Sanford:
>
> I am writing to inquire about sources of queen bees. A local farmer, who
> has significant experience with bee keeping, has been trying
> unsuccessfully to bring in bees from the mainland. Permits are not a
> problem, it is just finding a willing vendor.
>
> Apparently the bees must travel 'below decks' in the plane and the
> temperature and other conditions put the cluster under too much
> hardship. I don't know about this but I am sure that if bees can
> overwinter during a hard winter in W. Washington, where I am from, they
> should be able to tolerate an 8 hour plane ride?
>
> The local bees here, while gentle, don't really produce well. This
> farmer would like to increase his hive numbers, from a couple of dozen
> now, to a couple of hundred. There is only one commercial hive operation
> on island now with about 250 hives.
>
> Could you recommend any commercial vendors willing too ship us some
> queens? Might New Zealand be a better source?
>
> Also, are you aware of two recent? ICMOD publications:
>
> Bee Flora of the Hindu Kush-Himalayas. Uma Partap. ICMOD 1997
> Pollination Management of Mountain Crops through Beekeeping. Uma Partap.
> ICMOD 1999
>
> Both can be ordered on line from the ICMOD webpage. I find them
> interesting and well development sources of information. Our crop area
> here is limited so most of the foraging by bees is done on native or
> introduced plants. Coconuts are a major source of production!
>
> any search engine should pull up the ICMOD URL for you.
> Use "ICMOD and Bees" as keywords.
>
> I look forward to hearing from you.
>
> Best regards,
>
> John H. Lawrence
> Soil Conservationist
> USDA-NRCS
> Pacific Basin, GUAM
>
> 671.735.2111
> 671.735.2110 fax
>
> [log in to unmask]
--
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Dr. Malcolm (Tom) Sanford, Extension Apiculturist, University of Florida
Bldg. 970, P.O. Box 110620, Gainesville, FL 32611-0620
Ph. 352/392-1801 ext. 143 Fax 352/392-0190
E-mail: [log in to unmask]
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