In a message dated 6/12/98 8:05:00 AM Eastern Daylight Time,
[log in to unmask] writes:
 
<< Am I right in thinking that once the mite is present then it is a waste
 of time destroying infected colonies. The best approach for the future
 being to help beekeepers keep alive as many colonies as possible, rather
 than destroying the hives.
 
 Clearly destroying all infected hives, is going to make a lot of people
 give up, or keep their bees out of the way of the officials, neither
 which is good for the disease management. Destroying hives in my opinion
 is  like going out to buy a fire extinguisher when your house is on fire. >>
 
   We had a number of beekeepers whose livelihoods were destroyed by officials
as the mites came into the US (both tracheal and varroa).  To the best of my
knowledge, none were ever compensated for their losses. One of my
acquaintances was a victim of this fiasco. He was a member of a rare, perhaps
endangered, group -- YOUNG beekeepers. He has gotten back into the bees on a
small scale, but had to enter the building trades for several years to pay off
all his beekeeping debts.
 
    And I seriously doubt that it slowed the advance of the mites very much.
 
    Quarantines don't do much either.  North Carolina had a state quarantine
for several years to keep out varroa. They got it about as quickly as other
areas, though they kept up a facade of being varroa free for quite a while.
North Carolina beekeepers were the worst violators, though they had pushed
this quarantine and gotten it passed. They moved freely back and forth across
the borders, without much fear of repercussion. South Carolina sourwood is at
low elevation and blooms earlier. Then a high elevation crop blooms later in
NC. This allowed North Carolina beekeepers to move to South Carolina to get
the early crop, move back and get the late crop. But any beekeeper from out of
state would be easily identifiable and surely get his hives destroyed by NC
officials!
 
It did hurt honest beekeepers, and, as you say, encourages all beekeepers to
keep out of sight of officials.
 
[log in to unmask]     Dave Green  Hemingway, SC  USA
The Pollination Scene:  http://users.aol.com/pollinator/polpage1.html
 
Jan's Sweetness and Light Shop    (Varietal Honeys and Beeswax Candles)
http://users.aol.com/SweetnessL/sweetlit.htm