> Frankly from the standpoint of spreading disease and parasites, packages
> and migratories are one and the same.

Actually, there is a huge divide between a.) all those who keep bees
commercially and b.) all those who keep bees for a sideline and/or hobby,
and have less dependence on beekeeping profits for a livelihood.

While amateurs (in the best sense of the word) are often able to resist the
immediate financial rewards that may be associated with moving bees from
place to place, or accept immediate financial setbacks that may come from
not buying or moving bees, those who are in the commercial end -- be it
grower or beekeeper -- are much less able to withstand the pressure to get
the job done at the lowest short-term cost and highest profit.

Moreover, because predictions are so hard to make, especially when it comes
to the to the future (thanks, Yogi), there is a strong tendency for the pros
to discount long term threats that may arise from short-term thinking when
the short-term benefits are large and obvious.  Even when an adverse outcome
seems certain, people figure there's a chance that surprises may intervene
and they will get away with it.   Moreover, many -- even most -- do not
care, if they can see that they will be broke long before any chickens come
home to roost if they do not make the most profitable short-term decision.

Thus, there is a philosophical divide between the amateurs and the pros on
this list.  The amateurs can afford to see colonies die and subsidize their
bee habit, and imagine they are doing great things for the world.  The pros,
on the other hand, simply count on making enough money every month to pay
the bills.

There is problem, though when one person, pursuing his own profit or ideals,
prevents another from doing the same, and by reducing his own costs,
increases those of others -- or imagines that his solution to a problem
applies -- or should apply -- to everyone else, if only they were smart
enough to see.

As I write this in an isolated cottage, supposedly out in nature, I am
hearing someone, somewhere across the river, blasting out his favourite
tunes. They are not necessarily mine, nor is listening to them what I came
here for.

Such is life.

allen

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