Bob continued to puzzle us, showing great concern 
for bee exporter/importer profits, but none at 
all for US biosecurity:

> Aphis has always had the right to send an inspector 
> to Australia to see that our interests are protected. 
> Without a doubt the best way.

Is this a joke?  What is needed is lab tests, not 
someone sent to the other side of the planet with only 
whatever he can pack in a suitcase and get through 
Homeland Security Theater.  Anyone traveling with
any lab gear is nearly certain to get at least a free 
colonoscopy, and might end up spending some time at
a subtropical island beachfront paradise, like the
no-star resort at Guantanamo Bay.

> At times it takes needless hours to get the package bees 
> released from the airport/customs. 
> When at the airport on arrival they are fragile. 
> Sit on a hot dock area.

This clearly illustrates the need to start treating the 
imports like what they are, live animals, rather than how 
they are currently handled (apparently, like plants).  

> They belong at that point to the beekeeper!

Better contracts are clearly needed.  Yes, the exporter has
no control over APHIS and customs, but somehow, the same
sort of liability issue does not arise when UPS or DHL
are the carriers of things I order from overseas.  If
my package is not delivered in good condition to my door,
I am not liable for a cent.

But getting bees out from under the "plants" division
of the "Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service"
is an important prerequisite to getting bees some of
the respect and attention they deserve.

> understand the issue and push for APHIS to send 
> an inspector to Australia during the package season. 

Not unless several lab techs and a shipping container full
of gear can go with him.  But that's silly.  AUSTRALIA
is supposed to be doing tests of this sort using their
own inspectors, techs, and lab gear.  They aren't, and
they apparently never have.  That's negligent in the
extreme.

Regardless of what the Aussies do, we should do our 
own sampling and tests on the actual bees shipped 
with our own inspectors, lab techs and gear on this 
end, as we want to be able to operate INDEPENDENTLY 
of vague concepts like "trust".

We need mutually-assured checks and balances.
Think of how easy it would have been to settle any
questions about IAPV and Aussie bees if both exporting
and importing nations had their own sample libraries.
It would have been far, far cheaper than the work
that had to be done to go scramble and try to play
catch up. Far quicker, too.  And best of all, zero
flack from gadflies who don't see that sampling
would have been in everyone's best interest.

Samples can be taken when the bees arrive, and this 
"special task" will get the pallets of bees the sort 
of priority attention that will result in quicker release.

> I personally will lead the fight to stop end arrival 
> airport inspections and holdups.

The good news is that this is a scientific issue, not a
"fight", and that all concerned are truly interested in
finding some facts upon which decisions can be based.
So "fighting" won't change facts, but if you need the
exercise, it might be excellent cardio, moreso if you
do a lot of shouting.

But what's your stake in any of this, Bob?  Is it that 
you think you will need constant replacement packages 
so early due to ongoing losses?  Have you checked with 
the exporters to verify that they feel that you are 
helping, rather than hurting their interests? Or are 
you merely engaging in self-aggrandizement by engaging 
in "debate" about a "hot" issue?

> APHIS has always had the right to inspect after the package 
> bees leave the airport and are in the field. 

Uh, no they haven't, and no they don't.  :)
There is no federal regulation to allow an APHIS employee
to enter a beeyard, open a hive, or take as much as a
single bee.  It is also not possible for a State-level
apiarist or bee inspector to regulate these imported bees, 
as the imports are exempt from the usual interstate bee 
movement regulations and controls.

So, while the beekeeper might PERMIT samples to be taken 
once the bees are hived, he/she is under no obligation 
to do so, and therefore, APHIS does not have "the right".

I explained the problem in detail back in 2005, in the
very appropriately-titled article "Where Are We Going,
And What's With This Handbasket?"
http://bee-quick.com/reprints/regs.pdf


> We have tried to use the USDA-ARS systems to prove 
> those queens are AHB free but Australia has strict 
> guidelines. Will not accept the USDA-ARS method of
> certify those queens are AHB free.

Funny how when the shoe is on the other foot, Australia
seems to be able to reject the detailed lab work of the 
USDA-ARS itself as "unacceptable" to assure them that 
bees THEY might import are safe, yet we are expected 
to accept Australia's mere "visual inspection" by some
random bee inspector as our ONLY assurance that their 
bees are disease and pest-free.

I don't really care about sending genetics to Australia.
Why should the US spend even a dime or lift a finger to 
provide any other country with our genetics if they want
to make it difficult for us?  Quick, name a bee breed 
since "Buckfast" worth getting that was developed outside 
the US.  Looks like we've got R&D that they want, and 
that's a bargaining chip.

> the gene pool in the U.S. needs new genetics to help 
> build our bees immune systems.

Again, misleading and/or misinformed.  Diversity is good, 
but diversity simply means that some bees might survive 
while others die from any specific threat.  No "building" 
of immune systems results.  Let's not confuse bee biology
with those ads for herbal supplements, shall we?

> originated in the U.K. (Buckfast),

Yeah, I mentioned Buckfast.  Too bad we have to go to
Canada if we want Buckfast bees that are "true to breed",
as all he US producers have allowed the breed to drift.

> varroa tolerant (Italy) 

And how are those working out for you?  :)
I haven't heard the praises of this effort being sung
from the rooftops, and if the effort was even a partial
success, choirs of beekeepers would have spontaneously
formed at bee meetings across the land.

> and the best of the Australian line. 

Which is, what, exactly?  
They certainly are not "resistant" to anything, because 
Australia claims to be free of everything. They certainly 
can't include any of the new-fangled genetics you mentioned 
above, due to their "strict import controls", just like 
the ones we used to have before they demanded we abandon 
them for the sole personal profit of a handful of 
Australian beekeepers and their apparently 
ethically-challenged collaborators here in the US.

So, the only thing that these bees have going for them
is that they are "available early", and carry the false
promise of being something that can be built up in
time for almonds.  That trick didn't work, to the
chagrin of a few people.  Growers don't pay full rates
for packages dumped into boxes 90 days before Almond
bloom, do they?

If Aussie bees were truly superior bees, then the Canadians
would not have been so desperate about re-opening their
border to US imports.  They would have been happy with
what they could buy.  Instead, some beekeepers engaged
in smuggling to get US bees, and a few got caught
while the border was closed to US packages and queens.

When people are willing to break the law, risking fines
and jail time to buy a product, this is the sort of 
endorsement that overshadows any claims you might make.  

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