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Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology <[log in to unmask]>
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Thu, 3 Jul 2003 01:41:39 -0400
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On 13 Jun 2003 at 16:39, James Fischer wrote:

>...the needs of a small number of migratory beekeepers have
trumped each and every quarantine every single time

  The beekeepers could never have pulled off any such "trump."
In each and every case it was much bigger farmers who had to
have the bees for pollination that had the political muscle to keep
the bees coming. And that not in every case. I know of apple
orchards that did not get pollination and lost their crops because
the regulators could not, or would not act in a timely fashion.

> Like it or not, there seems to be a clear and compelling correlation
> between a lack of migratory activity and both a greatly reduced
> incidence
> of and much slower spreading of exotic invasive diseases and pests.

   Well, I've certainly heard that before, and there may be some
truth to it. But large scale migratories are not the only bee
movement.

   I probably have mentioned before, but will again, that North
Carolina tried to stop migratory beekeeping for awhile (primarily as
a protection measure for their own beekeepers), by using a
quarantine.  During that time, North Carolina beekeepers
themselves pretty much ignored the quarantine. Some came
across to do pollination in South Carolina, then returned to NC.
Some did sourwood honey at low elevation in SC, then moved
back to later high elevation sourwood in NC.  And there were plenty
of NC beekeepers coming to SC and GA for nucs and packages.

   I was in upstate SC one spring, getting gas and noticed a station
wagon with two beehives in the back (believe it or not!). I talked
with the owner, who was a resident of Savannah, with a summer
home near Asheville. He was carrying his hives up with him to
make sure he got that good sourwood honey.  I mentioned the
quarantine to him. He had never heard of it, but it didn't matter; he
was going anyway. Betcha he had no idea what varroa was either.

    Bees are going to move around; there isn't much way to stop this
kind of activity, unless there is a guarded border, and even those
tend to leak.

    Migratory beekeeping is not much of a lifestyle for those who
have families, and those who do it generally feel that they have no
choice, if they want a viable business. It's made necessary because
of US monoculture, which seasonally requires the input of large
quantities of pollinators, and because it's pretty tough to have self
sustaining beekeeping in the north. A lot of northern beekeepers
buy queens and packages, particularly after a hard winter, but it's
considerably cheaper to take the bees south for the winter than it is
to replace them.

   I just feel that it's unfair to repeatedly make migratories the
whipping boys. Yes, they probably do spread some pests, but I
doubt that this is any more than done by hobby beekeepers as in
the the examples above. Some pests, like the afrobeetles, move
around pretty freely without bees to ride on. They can fly for many
miles, or ride truckloads of fruit.

Dave Green    SC  USA
The Pollination Home Page

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