BW>From: BLANE WHITE <[log in to unmask]>
  >Date:         Tue, 26 Mar 1996 11:24:41 CST6CDT
  >Subject:      Re: Importation of Bee Semen into the USA (What do you thin
  >Organization: Minnesota Dept of Agriculture
 
  >Other livestock breeding groups have addressed these issues and
  >developed mechanisms to allow limited importation maybe we need to
  >look at what they have done.
 
Hi Blane & Bee Friends,
 
Yes, there are risks to allowing the restricted or unrestricted
importation of honeybees or honey bee semen into the US. I would suggest
they are less today then in the past and in fact there are more reasons
why off shore beekeepers should not want to import US bees then reasons
for US beekeepers not being able to look for solutions to today's bee
problems, today, from off shore sources.
 
US beekeepers have had a "developed mechanism", under both current US
Law and US Agriculture Regulation as amended to bring in honey bees for
stock improvement, and it has not worked or better stated kept up with
the needs of the industry. It is also reinforced by many state
restrictions on bee imports. It is because this door is only open to the
few, good people they may all be, and the world's best scientist's to,
and the best skilled queen breeders, but the reality is this system has
failed and continues to fail to serve the needs of the industry
because so few can use it for what ever reason.
 
And if it could be measured the numerous imports of stock and semen
has not resulted in anything that can be called increased honey
production, increased pollination efficiency, increased longevity of
adult bees, or disease resistance or mite resistance in our honeybees.
It has had value in increased knowledge, and that is good but hard to
place a dollar value on.
 
The exception to this is honest hard working but few beebreeders who
have found some value in marketing the daughters of these few government
imports at increased prices of course. Nothing wrong with that, but not
one of these queen breeders can supply any one beekeeper with stock in
numbers that is any more superior then the stock any experienced
beekeeper could rear his/her self or purchase from another reliable
bee breeder. The few can say with convention that their stock is the
best, from government imported stock, can run big ads in the bee trade
papers and sell lots of queens, but in the end the stock is no different
then what someone else has without the benefit of the hype of government
controlled imports.
 
The real question is will this change beekeeping for the better if the
bee importation laws are relaxed or even dumped. If history repeats
itself, and I am one of those who believes that it does, it could.
 
The bee industry in the United States was once before threatened with
great and complete loss, (before my time). Bee's were disappearing
because of a disease that could not be controlled in the US stock at the
time. Beekeeping in America was going down the drain, beekeepers few as
there was then were leaving hives, skepts, and bee gums empty. The
feral hives, bee trees, were reduced or disappeared. The import door was
then open and direct imports were made from the old world, yellow bees,
the Italian bees won the day and in a few years everything was back to
more or less normal. For sure other bees other then yellow or Italian,
and bees with undesirable characteristics were also imported, some
direct from Africa.
 
This was not a problem that some will surely point out for today, or
at least no record of a problem exists today from this open door to
imports. Maybe it is because of the beekeepers themselves who weeded out
the bad and increased the good strains, or more likely what we got from
all that importations were survivors. Bee's that survived the trip, not
easy in those days, and bee's that survived in the US bee yards, not
so easy today....this day!
 
Do I believe that we need to open the door to save the bee's in the
US? No, I don't, but I believe and know that if something does not
change fast there will be less beekeepers and if opening that bee
importation door will help then it should be opened.
 
And of grater concern is that there may be no or few feral honeybee
populations, based on increasing reports, (though I am really not
convinced that this is a new problem in the feral populations as it
is something I have noted over the last forty years and may have no
relationship to pests or disease), but it does remain a concern since so
many are now reporting a reduction, to a complete collapse of feral
honeybee populations. Most of these reports are not based on history,
and are only valid observations at the time made. But for sure if this
reduction continues then there will be no wild honeybees, but then there
were none in California just a 100+ years ago when a swarm would sell
for $100 gold. And it can be expected that when there are no honeybees
in our hives there will be few in the bush, unless you wish to believe
that the TexMex bees are going to replace the feral populations, but
then there are laws and regulations preventing this, in fact the same
one's that have prevented you and I from importing bee's.
 
                            ttul Andy-
                            Los Banos, Ca
 
 
(c) Permission is granted to freely copy this document
in any form, or to print for any use.
 
(w)Opinions are not necessarily facts. Use at own risk.
 
---
 ~ QMPro 1.53 ~ What is not good for the swarm is not good for the bee