Bees are part of the problem in spreading fire blight. I lost
several fruit trees from it. Unfortunately, the solution to the
problem of fire blight, at least the ones that were given to me,
are treatment of the plant, which I think was a copper sulfate
spray, or remove the branches which are affected or remove the
plants which are most susceptible. I solved the problem by
removing the plants that harbored the disease- flowering almonds.
Once I did that, the incidence of the disease in my plums, which
seemed to get it the most, dropped to zero.
Which leads to the best solution, but one which is the most
difficult because of expense, plant resistant varieties.
You are in a difficult position. Honeybees will be blamed even
though the transport is any pollinating insect. I had fire blight
before I had honeybees. The key to the introduction of honey bees
is to eradicate the disease. But with many growers, that would be
costly because their plants may be the repository of the disease
and they accept some damage- corrected by pruning- with no
thought that they are spreading the disease to others. With that
attitude, it is easier to blame the bees. You are fighting human
nature, which is much more difficult to conquer than mother
nature.
So my suggestion is to organize the growers to eradicate the
disease so they can get the benefits of honeybee pollination for
increased yields. And that will be difficult and costly.
I hope there are others that can give you more help.
Bill T
Bath, ME