On Mon, 8 Apr 1996, Nick Wallingford wrote:
 
> Does Hawaii have Kashmir bee virus or mites?  No one *really* knows,
> as no one has ever systematically looked.  With the small geographic
> size and relatively small number of hives involved, a survey to
> determine pest/disease status for Hawaii would be a simple thing to
> undertake.  Until the Hawaiian beekeepers are willing to do that
> there can be no *confidence* in the claims of area freedom.  Hawaii
> is not willing to take 'the test', but wants the world to believe
> that it is 'clean'.  Again, the confidence is a statistically based
> thing, not just individual reports of 'nothing found' - the
> methodology must stand scrutiny!
 
> Nick Wallingford
> President - Nat Beekeepers Assn of NZ      (\
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For the record, while a survey for honey bee viruses has never been
undertaken in Hawaii, the Hawaii Department of Agriculture has been
sampling honey bees in Hawaii for tracheal mite since 1984 and for varroa
mite since 1988, i.e., since shortly after each parasite was discovered on
the U.S. mainland. Neither mite has ever been found in Hawaii. As far as
we know (and no one can be absolutely certain), Hawaii remains mite-free,
although the state's virus status remains an open question.
 
Tom Culliney
Hawaii Dept. of Agriculture
Plant Pest Control Branch
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