Hi Everyone,

An interesting exchange here but I would like to try to make one point
clear given part of the exchange below:

  Better, had he not moved infected  hives from GA (in violation of
state
>law, but with no real punishment  defined), the entire state might
still be
>clear.  Or at least, have a few  more years before the beetle spread
>naturally.

Bob replied in part:

"It would be impossible to certify a semi load of bees coming from a
known
area of shb to be small hive beetle free. Hell the inspection service
can't
even keep the SHb out of packages. Temporary quarantines were set up at
times but movement of bees with beetles has never been stopped to my
knowledge. The USDA sees the spread of the small hive beetle as
unstoppable.

The hobby beekeepers in TN and KY might as you say have had a few more
years
before infestation but the need for pollination won out and the bee
hives
were released to move into orchards.

On one end you have got a grower which will not get a crop and possibly
go
bankrupt without pollination. On the other end you have got a beekeeper
with
bees which possibly carry the shb. The USDA does not see a way to stop
the
spread of the SHB (nor do I). The beekeeper is given a permit  to go
pollinate."

Hold it a minute Bob.  Did you notice the beekeeper moved the bees
illegally?  No loads were certified and permitted for movement the guy
just loaded the known infested colonies on the truck and moved them in
violation of Georgia law and in violation of TN and KY laws.  This is
not a case of someone trying to do things right but someone who thinks
they can do whatever they want and they don't care what it costs the
other beekeepers around them.  This is exactly how shb was brought to MN
a few years ago - the beekeeper knew he had the beetles and didn't want
to the treatment and reinspection required by GA to legally move the
bees so he just illegally brought them here to MN.  You know I don't
have problems with legal movement of honey bees but this illegal
movement is causing the whole beekeeping industry problems.  Much of the
anti-migratory sentiment in the US is due to this kind of total
disregard to the long term health of beekeeping displayed by those who
just load up their problems and spread them around.  Now this is not
just an issue here with beekeeping but is also occuring in other areas
of agriculture where people are moving pests and diseases around and
causing problems for other producers in the area.  The common good
quickly gets trampled in the rush.

FWIW

blane


******************************************
Blane White
MN Dept of Agriculture
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