http://www.abc.net.au/rural/news/content/201211/s3639408.htm

The chairman of the Australian Honey Bee Industry Council's quarantine
committee, Trevor Weatherhead, says an incursion of Varroa mite would
devastate the industry.
"The first thing I felt when I heard it, was that it was good that
they'd found it, because if that particular swarm of Asian bees had
got off the ship and got onto the mainland then we would have a
situation where they would then multiply and we would then have those
mites then within the environment, within Australia.

DAFF's Tim Chapman says the Varroa mite found on the vessel isn't the
more destructive of the species.
"It seems in this case it was the Varroa mite called jacobsoni which
is less of an issue than the Varroa destructor," he said.

He says they are confident no bees escaped for a number of reasons.
"First of all we identified the hive and had it destroyed, secondly
the bees were all in a pretty weak state and that's no doubt because
they'd had quite a period of time with nothing to eat."
"Thirdly, it was very windy on that day and bees tend not to fly in
those sorts of windy conditions and last of all we have done
surveillance around the water area and no further bees have been
identified."

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