tomas mozer wrote:

> FYNBOS VITAL FOR BILLION RAND FRUIT INDUSTRY - STUDY
> CAPE TOWN 5 June 2000 Sapa

The Western Cape Bee Industry Association also carried this article in its
latest newsletter CAPENSIS. Beekeepers here are in two minds on the issue.

Firstly: Large tracts of Fynbos are under the control of the Department of
Nature Conservation (DNC). Their domain is expanding due to the dangers of
informal settlements on unused land in the Western Cape. Their policy is simple:
beekeeping is not allowed within DNC controlled areas. To the extent that even
historically accessible sites are now included under their control and
beekeepers asked to leave.

Their policy is simple, yet, unproven: According to them bees could be
responsible for inbalances in the food chains within the fynbos biome.
Competition with other pollinators (mammals, insects and birds) has not been
proven, but there could be disadvantages to these in the event of hives being
placed in those areas. One of their arguments even went so far as to say that
beekeeping was a consumptive activity, in that carbohydrate was removed from the
food chain - totally discounting the positive effect that bees have in
pollination dynamics and the resulting biodiversity in the fynbos.

This report is, therefore good news, as it could lead to a moderation of their
attitude

Secondly: DNC is removing all foreign plants, including any eucalypts - the main
source of nectar for our bees in the hot dry summers - from these newly acquired
areas. Tree erradication is all the rage in Cape Town. Ostensibly because large
trees "use up" all the water. Subsequent to their project of erradication,
however, Cape Town has never experienced such heat and drought as during this
past summer.

Be that as it may. The "fynbos" people (lobbyists demanding the erradication of
anything considerd "alien"), will now have fuel for their fire. They will demand
that, as beekeepers can make do with the fynbos, eucalyptus must be removed at
an even faster rate.

Hmmm. Not an easy one. As bee Industry we are actually in desperate need of
studies of pollination biology within the fynbos in order to strengthen our
arguments that, as the bee is part of the fynbos biome, there can be no possible
detrimental impact. Any helpers?

Robert Post
Cape Town
South Africa
Hosts to Apimondia 2001