Jim said:
>So I'll see your scenario, and raise you a practical mechanism.

Most our recent pests have first been found around southeast ports so many
believe they arrived from swarms of ships. Certainly Jerry Hayes & L. Cutts
(Florida) have always told me they thought so. Almost all traps are around
ports and swarms are got all the time off ships. ALL THE TIME!


My sources in Australia say both the a.cerana find and SHB were believed to
enter through ports. Still no tracheal, AHB  or varroa mites in Australia.
 Keeping score on pests believed to have entered through ports:
U.S.
1. tracheal mites( Florida or Galveston)
2. varroa mites(Florida)
3. small hive beetle( Charleston)
4. AHB (Florida)

Australia
1. Small hive beetle (Sidney area)
2. two small swarms of A. cerana (caught and destroyed). I actually pushed
for an A. cerana import and really do not see A. cerana as  a problem. They
will not cross with mellifera and are not bothered by varroa . Over a
million hives are used for commercial honey production in China.

So as I see it the U.S. is as likely to get T. clareae off a container/ship
as Australia an in my opinion more likely despite the points you made.
Actually most swarms I am told are not IN containers but on the boat itself.

bob


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