> Harry I have to respectfully disagree, the longer you can keep something
> out while somebody else works out a control the better off you are.
 
> Vermont was one of the last states to drop its quaratine giving us enough
> time to prevent the big kill that everybody else in the north
> experienced. Thats my personal opinion anyway, interesting subject Im
> sure others have differing opinions.
 
I have to agree too.  Although I am strongly against badly thought out
controls, I can see the benefits from well designed ones.
 
Even if the cause is ultimately lost, in the meantime there can be large
benefits to restricting spread of pests.  Hawaii and Canada are two caeses
in point: while Canada has been slowly overrun by both acarine and
varroa despite the closed border, the process has been much more gradual
than it otherwise might have been.  In the case of Hawaii, AFAIK, that
state is still free of both mites.
 
This fortuitous circumstance has had very obvious benefits to both Hawaii
and all the states and countries that can purchase queeens from there.  In
the former case, that of Canada, the benefits are harder to assess, since
at the time of imposition of the controls, businesses in both Canada and
the southern US suffered, and in some cases were forced to close down.
 
The remaining beekeepers, howeve,r prospered since in Canada the large
expenses associated with mites were not incurred until long after they
would have been, should the border have remained open.  In the case of
California breeders, the market in the US ultimately grew to the point
where they could not satisfy the domestic orders.
 
I *am* very leary of hastily imposed and arbitrary regulation.
 
In order to design effective and just controls, very careful and forward
looking cost/benefit analysis is required; unfortunately political forces
often hijack the process. However, regulation does have its place, and in
the case of Australia and NZ, has protected them from the ravages of both
mites to present.
 
 
Allen Dick                                  VE6CFK
Rural Route One, Swalwell, Alberta  Canada T0M 1Y0
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