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Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology

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Subject:
From:
T & M Weatherhead <[log in to unmask]>
Reply To:
Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology <[log in to unmask]>
Date:
Wed, 17 Feb 1999 16:45:12 PST
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Tom Culliney wrote
 
> Second, the proximate reason for the U.S. Department of Agriculture's
> decision to halt Australian bee transshipments through Hawaii in 1993 was
> not because of the bee viruses known to occur in Australia, but because of
> the sloppy way in which many of the Australian bee shipments of earlier
> years had been prepared, allowing for the escape of bees at Honolulu
> International Airport on a number of occasions.
 
This is very interesting as 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.
 
For the record, our package bee shippers in Australia claimed that the reason the bees escaped in Honolulu was because of the rough handling in Honolulu.  In another post, I wrote that one package bee shipper in Australia now travels with the packages to their last transhipping point to supervise the transhipping.  This was as a direct result of the incidences in Hawaii.  I would imagine that Tom will claim the other way and we will have to agree to disagree.
 
>Parasitic bee mites have not been found in Hawaii.
 
I am unaware of anyone who is claiming that Hawaii has mites.  Certainly not me.  These surveys will become common practise in those countries that do not have mites as a condition of WTO rules.  An impost we will have to put up with.
 
I hope that Hawaii does not get mites.  We in Australia do not want them either.  That is why we have strict quarantine import protocols, airport and postal surveillance and a port surveillance program.
 
Trevor Weatherhead
AUSTRALIA

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