> Those beeks which do not need the bees and never will 
> have always been those saying to close the border. 

The only "just say no" chant was started in 2002 by one 
of the self-proclaimed "National Bee Organizations".  
The chant was naive (or disingenuous) in the extreme, 
as neither the President, Congress, or APHIS could 
"say no" without specific disease-and-pest "grounds" 
to do so.

The more reasonable approach, the one proposed by the
same parties who want reasonable trade in semen and
other genomics for breeding, has always been to ask 
that imported live animals be subjected to at least
some level of inspection at port of entry, and some 
level of tracking and checks-and-balances.

> Fortunately APHIS has always said to those people to 
> provide proof the import bees are a problem and APHIS 
> will consider their position.

No, APHIS has been forced by the trade agreement itself
to allow imports.  There is no option to restrict imports
under WTO rules unless there is a known and proven problem
(disease or pest) in the shipping country that is not
present in the receiving country.

And now that there is a reportable disease or pest in the
shipping country that is not in the receiving country,
the need for port-of-entry inspections is even more clear.

Understand that the alternative would be to point out that
under WTO rules, APHIS must prohibit imports until Oz
sets up at least a quarantine between the infested area
and the rest of the country.

> Some of the biggest fear mongers as to the import

What part of "we told your so" is unclear now that
Australia now undeniably has the exact bee that 
prompted so much prudent concern on the part of so
many responsible parties?

> forget the tens of thousands of ocean shipping 
> containers which arrive all the time from areas 
> of cerana.

APHIS must first agree to inspect the shipments known 
to contain live animals before we can ask APHIS to 
expand their efforts to inspecting cargo that MIGHT 
contain live animals.

I haven't heard anyone say that beekeepers with excessive 
losses year after year and hives too weak to make splits 
should not be allowed to buy expensive packages of bees
that have proven to not build up in time to be acceptable
hives for the almonds.  :)

What I do hear is valid concerns over invasive exotic 
pests and diseases, like the ones that are behind CCD.  

Not to beat anyone over the head with it, but given
that rather large oceans isolate the Western hemisphere
from the Eastern, how does anyone think we got every
single pest and disease currently in the USA, given that
bees have a limited flight range, and all these
diseases and pests originated on the other side of
those oceans?

> I could live without the import but have made money 
> and saved almond contracts with those bees 

Almonds have done for beekeeping what cocaine did for Miami.

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