mites have recently (past year or so) been detected and appear to be
spreading in much of the west indies, especially the eastern caribbean
(dominica,st.lucia,among
others)...along with africanization, they have presented new
challenges/opportunities
for beekeepers in the antilles...anyone have further information
available?

posted for information/discussion purposes from the cyberbee website
link:

http://bees.msu.edu/news/jamaica.html

Jamaica's bee industry under attack by parasitic mite

By Earl Moxam

KINGSTON, Jamaica, April 14 (Reuters) - Jamaica's apiaries, famed for
producing a unique honey flavored with tropical nectars, are threatened
by a parasitic honeybee mite, the Jamaican Ministry of Agriculture said
Wednesday.

The Caribbean island's US$2 million honey industry employs 2,000 people,
most of them on small farms whose apiaries are enriched by the nectar
from over 13,000 tropical plant  species.

The mite, Varroa jacobsoni, was discovered infesting a honeybee colony in
Bull Bay near Kingston on February 18. Subsequent inspections revealed
the pest was well
established at surrounding apiaries, the ministry said in a statement.

``The Varroa mite is probably responsible for greater losses in
beekeeping than any other pest of the honeybee, and it is more serious in
situations where its presence is not detected until the problem is very
advanced,'' Roy Murray, principal researcher at the ministry's research
station, told Reuters.

Beekeeper Oliver Smith, whose apiary in Westmoreland is more than 100
kilometers (62 miles) from the site of the first discovery, said the
problem already may be out of
control.

``Within three years, the whole island is likely to be affected and about
50 percent of the farmers could be wiped out as a result,'' Smith said.

``The purity of this unique brand of honey is under serious threat if the
chemicals for treating the mite are not properly handled,'' he warned.

The agriculture ministry sought to reassure that proper safeguards would
be put in place, with controlled quantities of the chemicals to be
distributed only to registered  beekeepers, accompanied by a public
education campaign.

The Varroa jacobsoni mite has spread around the world through commercial
transport of bees and queens, migration of beekeepers and the accidental
transport of bees on ships and aircraft.