On Wed, 17 Feb 1999, T & M Weatherhead wrote:
 
> ...we have always been told it was because of =
> the viruses in Australia and New Zealand that transhipping was stopped. =
>  New Zealand has since gained transhipping rights.
 
All transshipment of bees through Hawaii was banned by USDA after 1993,
following a reinterpretation of the U.S. "Honey Bee Act of 1922" to
equate transshipment with importation. Under the Act, bees could only be
imported from Canada. Lobbying by the New Zealand bee industry during 1994
resulted in new regulations permitting bees from N.Z. to transit U.S.
ports, beginning in 1995. An article published in the New Zealand
BeeKeeper (vol. 3, no. 9, pp. 9-12 [October 1996]) provides background.
 
*************************************************************************
Tom Culliney    Hawaii Dept. of Agriculture, Division of Plant Industry,
1428 South King St., Honolulu, HI 96814, U.S.A.
E-mail: [log in to unmask]
Telephone: 808-973-9528
FAX: 808-973-9533
 
"To a rough approximation and setting aside vertebrate chauvinism, it can
   be said that essentially all organisms are insects."--R.M. May (1988)
"Bugs are not going to inherit the earth. They own it now. So we might as
   well make peace with the landlord."--T. Eisner (1989)