<< I am gathering information Apiary Inspection info state by state.>> Peter Borst

Peter. This inventory of state apiary inspection practices is useful to us here in Newfoundland and Labrador as it may well inform discussions with our government about the services we receive currently and into the future.  I’d like to see the same thing done for Canadian provinces.  I’d do it myself except I’m swamped with other commitments at the moment.

It’s interesting to note that the Canadian Food Inspection Agency in its 2013 “Risk Assessment on the Importation of Honey Bee (Apis mellifera) Packages from the United States of America” referenced inadequate zoosanitary infrastructure in the U.S. as an important factor in the assessment (p.18).  Obviously, state apiary inspection practices are a key part of this infrastructure.

“There is no national honey bee management program, along with no interstate movement controls. In the continental U.S., national management programs do not include surveillance or control programs for honey bee diseases and pests of interest to this assessment. Unless local surveillance and control programs indicate otherwise, it must be assumed that most honey bee diseases and pests of interest are widely distributed in the U.S. honey bee population.” 

“State inspectors, or in some cases municipal or county inspectors, are responsible for implementing state disease control and surveillance programs. The level of inspection and legislated controls vary from state to state (Somerville, 2003). It is unlikely that inspectors are able to obtain good coverage of hives in states where there is a great deal of migratory beekeeping. Interstate movement controls are limited or nonexistent so that hives may be moved quickly once a crop comes into bloom.”

“Given the extent of the migratory industry and the absence of movement controls, zoning of the U.S. for bee diseases would be very difficult.”

Our governments here in Canada need to be reminded of the importance of maintaining our own zoosanitary infrastructure. Changes in government, and new ones bent on cost-cutting and downloading services to beekeepers make it all somewhat precarious from one year to the next.   I guess beekeepers don't have the same economic impact that grain, dairy and beef producers have, and/or we are too poorly organized politically, and/or we are incapable of competing effectively (lobbying) for apparently scare state resources, which is why we have to beg, borrow and steal to finance round 2 of our Canadian National Honey Bee Health Survey (despite its importance re. managing biosecurity at our provincial and national borders).  In general, the more I look at how our apicultural infrastructure is organized and supported financially in Canada, the more I see a profound fragility to it all.  This fragility is manifest at multiple levels.

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