Apparently the AFB Agency has been working with this beekeeper for a while. 



Knowing he had AFB which requires infected hives to be destroyed, he should have instituted a quarantine system and be able to trace boxes back to either the apiary or the actual hive. (You are not meant to remove honey from an infected hive. The lot should be destroyed).



 And yes he should have instituted a sterilisation programme for boxes  paraffin dipping at 160C for ten minutes so he could farm his way out of this disease. 



We do not allow antibiotics to be used in bee hives as we export to the EU  and other countries that ban the use of antibiotics.



 Two hot heads not backing down so the Agency used the power of the Biosecurity Act section 122 .1 a & b to destroy the equipment.



This power I believe was instituted for an exotic incursion like foot and mouth but is being used here for an endemic disease. Last resort stuff.



No debate. No appeal in the regulations.



In today’s down turn of the industry following the collapse of the “manuka gold rush”, you can’t give away hives.  (They burnt 2000 hives a few months ago because they could not find a buyer).  Some have estimated the value of his used gear at $600,000.



It has certainly hit the headlines over here, however the discussion is a good thing. 



I personally would have liked to see an  Irradiation plant established in NZ big enough to handle bee hives similar to what they do in Australia.

These are now powered by electricity instead of cobalt  60 rods.



On the horizon are phages. Scientists have developed a set of phages that will kill all the different ERIC types in NZ except for a small pocket in The South Island. 



This is a completely different type, perhaps indication a smuggled queen with AFB within in the last 50 years.



 So that’s the situation as far as I know sitting on the outside looking in.



Frank Lindsay ONZM

New Zealand



Sent from my iPhone





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