FILENAME: JANAPIS.90
 
 
                   Apis--Apicultural Information and Issues
                    Florida Extension Beekeeping Newsletter
                      Volume 8, Number 1, January 1990
 
 
                    Planning for the African Bee's Arrival
 
There have been several meetings over the last year to develop a Florida
African Bee Plan.  Although for Florida the invasion is some years away, the
bees are projected to cross the Texas border in 1990.  This is fortunate for
Florida because there will be time before the invasion gets here to fine tune
any plan that might be developed.  Nevertheless, this is the time to begin
consideration in earnest of how beekeepers, educators and regulators will
confront the inevitable arrival of the African bee.
 
At the Federal level, an action plan already exists.  This was published by
USDA APHIS in the past and continues to be in force.  However, there remains a
fundamental problem as pointed out by Mr. Binford Weaver at the American
Beekeeping Federation meeting recently in Las Vegas.  The APHIS action plan
was conceived when spot introductions were considered major problems and the
industry was concerned about introduction of the Varroa bee mite along with
the African bee.  Sporadic introductions, usually by ship along the U.S.
coasts, are still being handled by APHIS according to the plan.  Texas, Mr.
Weaver's state, however, is now faced with a full frontal invasion of swarms
along its substantial border with Mexico.  And the Varroa bee mite has already
gained a foothold in the United States.  In spite of these facts, much of the
Texas African Bee Plan is still based on what Mr. Weaver and others see as an
outdated APHIS document.
 
APHIS' response to Mr. Weaver's question at the convention, by Mr. Chuck Bare,
was that no plan now exists for a frontal invasion, nor is one likely to be
quickly prepared.  Within this context, it must be remembered that APHIS' role
is only to prevent introduction of pests and to exterminate incipient
outbreaks.  The classic case of this over the last two decades has been
eradication of the Mediterranean fruit fly in both California and Florida
using widespread application of baited sprays.  Numerous infestations have
indeed been wiped out.  However, after detection of both tracheal and Varroa
mites, APHIS was forced to abandon efforts to eradicate these pests and gave
subsequent regulatory responsibility to the states.  The practical result has
been and continues to be a hodgepodge of rules and regulations concerning bee
movement.  The question many are asking is what role APHIS will take when the
bee crosses the Texas border.
 
APHIS' role will affect any plans made.  However, most persons in Florida are
expecting this bureaucracy to quickly wash its hands of the issue when it
becomes apparent the African bee has been established on U.S. soil.  This will
leave the states again with the final burden of authority and responsibility
in regulating beekeepers.  Because Florida will be more affected than most
states, the regulatory authority, Division of Plant Industry (DPI), Department
of Agriculture and Consumer Services (DACS), has been requested by its
advisory body, the Honey Bee Technical Council, to develop a plan.
Originally, the Council's idea was to simply make the population of Florida
aware of the bee and its potential effects.  Since then, research, training
and regulatory issues have been added.
 
Deliberations by a number of persons culminated in the development of a
proposal for increased funding to go to both DPI and the University of
Florida's Institute of Food and Agriculture Sciences (IFAS).  This awareness
plan was put before the legislative House Agriculture Committee in October
last year.  Part of the presentation was an in-house video tape entitled,
"Africanized Bee Awareness."  At a subsequent meeting of the Technical
Council, Mr. C.A. Ballard and the Sarasota Area Beekeepers donated enough
tapes to provide a copy for each of Florida's 67 county Cooperative Extension
offices.  They were mailed out in November last year.  Ms. Phyllis Habeck of
DPI also approached Dr. James Andersons's public relations class at the
University of Florida for assistance.  The result of those efforts is a
voluminous document filled with ideas including a proposed timetable of
action which the class called "Plan B."
 
Based on the ideas published in Plan B and others, a proposal for the Florida
plan was presented to the Africanized Honey Bee Task Force in December.  It
consisted of four directions or thrusts, listed major goals and persons in
charge and suggested a yearly budget.  The time of the plan is for five years;
its breakdown is as follows:
 
1.  Public awareness under direction of Ms. Phyllis Habeck, DPI, with a
budget of $50,000 per year.  Major directions are to let the public know
directly and through other state agencies about the bee.  Specific audiences
are governmental offices (cities and counties), tourist bureaus, civic groups
and schools.
 
2.  Research under direction of Dr. Glenn Hall, IFAS, with a budget of
$134,000 per year.  Major emphases are to study methods of identification and
stock certification and the process of genetic interactions.  This program is
also expected to establish baseline information and study the bees' dispersal
patterns.  Finally, it will consult and collaborate with the USDA laboratories
concerning managing both feral and domesticated bee populations.
 
3.  Training under direction of Dr. Tom Sanford, IFAS, with a budget of
$50,000 per year.  Major emphases are training beekeepers, other
agriculturalists, pest control operators, bee inspectors and the scientific
community.  Specific topics to be addressed include locating and eliminating
feral colonies by pest control operators, fire departments and police
agencies; educating employees of agricultural enterprises about potential
problems of more bees in their work environment; and training beekeepers in
stock management.
 
4.  Regulatory under direction of Mr. Laurence Cutts, State Apiarist, DPI,
with a budget of $355,000 per year.  This amount is over and above the current
budget of the Apiary bureau which is about $350,000 per year.  Major thrusts
are to implement regulations on the beekeeping community.  Specific areas are
stock beekeeper registration, certification, movement regulation and providing
information to other agencies which might aid in this effort, such as fire and
forestry departments.  There will be a training component here as well for bee
inspectors, beekeepers, law enforcement agencies and others.
 
It is not known at this time what the next step might be in order to implement
the proposed plan.   However, it is proposed to approach the Florida Senate
Agriculture Committe or perhaps a joint session of House and Senate Ag
Committees about increased funding sometime this legislative session .   That,
of course, is where the beekeeper as ordinary citizen comes in.  In a state
that is short on resources, a total annual budget approaching $600,000 is not
inconsiderable. It will require support by the beekeeping community and public
at large, if any part of these funds are to be approved.  The position of some
persons on both the Africanized Honey Bee Task Force and Honey Bee Technical
Council is that probably some increased funding will be forthcoming, but not
the full amount requested.  This will require further hard decisions on where
scarce funds should go to best address problems faced by the general public or
the beekeeping industry with the arrival of the bee.
 
All this brings to mind the writing of Dr. Elbert Jaycox, retired from the
Illinois Cooperative Extension Service, who said in the January, 1990 issue of
Gleanings in Bee Culture:  "There is no lack of candidates for leadership or
of ideas about how we will deal with the African bees when they cross our
southern border, perhaps this year.  We will poison them, exclude them,
outbreed them, and trap them, if you believe the proposals that have been
presented.  Yet how can you have faith that we will exert any effect on the
invasion when you look at the two previous debacles in handling the advent of
two other serious pests (tracheal and Varroa mites) in the United States?  The
biggest effects fell on beekeepers, putting many out of business and still
damaging others by regulations and enforcement established on a false base--
that you can detect mites and save money by taking small samples of bees for
diagnosis."
 
"We have equally fallacious ideas about how we will deal with African bees.
They are fallacious because they are based on the idea that we will be able to
spend large sums of money on control measures and regulatory action designed
to maintain European honey bee stock in areas suitable for African bees.
These include certifying and inspecting for European queens and destroying
hundreds of thousands of colonies.  I can only offer a simple prediction:  we
will not find the sums needed and we will not prevent the widespread
distribution of African bees and their hybrids in the U.S.  It is also easy to
predict that these things will come true in spite of many controversial and
damaging programs (to beekeepers) instituted by state and federal
organizations.  They will be so busy trying to put the clamps on bees and
beekeepers that we will get little help in a breeding program to give us
productive strains with African blood and resistance to Varroa mites yet
docile enough to keep beekeepers in the pollinating business.  All of us are
greatly concerned about the actions that may be taken when the Africans
arrive.  Also it is easy to put blame on regulatory agencies for programs that
do not work.  Yet, in most cases, it is the beekeepers' reactions, especially
those of non-commercial operators, that are responsible for the laws and
regulations put into force and then, later, withdrawn as unworkable.  Before
you decide to support some of the schemes being proposed to keep your area, or
all of the United States, free of African bees in the '90s, consider whether
they are based on reality, including the heavy expenditure of funds for many
years."
 
Although some of Dr. Jaycox's ideas are debatable and controversial, his final
message cannot be ignored.  Beekeepers' and other citizens' tax money will be
allocated on plans to deal with the African honey bee.  It will be up to
everyone concerned to make a determination about how much and how wisely these
funds will be spent.  The Florida African Bee Plan is no exception.  Please
communicate your thoughts to your legislators directly or through members of
the Agriculture Commissioner's Africanized Honey Bee Task Force or Honey Bee
Technical Council.  Those interested in being added to the mailing list about
future meetings on this issue should contact Mr. Laurence Cutts (address
below).
 
Honey Bee Technical Council:
 
Laurence Cutts, Chief Apiarist,  Division of Plant Industry, P.O. Box 1269,
Gainesville, FL 32602, ph 904/372-3505, ext. 128.
Bill Merritt, Star Route 1, Box 1080, Tallahassee, FL 32304, ph 904/962-9051.
Bill Shearman, P.O. Box 999, Wimauma, FL 33598, ph 813/634-5958.
Gary Hartland, P.O. Box 431, Lake Wales, FL 33853, ph 813/676-2276.
Horace Bell, 1058 S. Ridgewood Ave, DeLand, FL 32720, ph 904/734-7798.
Lawrence O'Ferrell, P.O. Box 221, LaBelle, FL 33935, ph 813/675-0727.
Dr. M.T. Sanford, 0312 IFAS, Gainesville, FL 32601-0312, ph 904/392-1801.
 
Africanized Honey Bee Task Force:
 
L. Cutts and Dr.T. Sanford as noted above.
B.J. Lewis, USDA-APHIS, 3505 25th Ave., Bldg 1 North, Gulfport, MS, ph
601/863-1813
Dr. David Carlson, USDA-ARS, P.O. Box 14565, Gainesville, FL 32602, ph
904/374-5929.
Dr. Ralph Wilhelm, Veterinarian, 2959 Fruitville Rd., Sarasota, FL 33580, ph
813/955-0136.
Dr. Glenn Hall, 0711 IFAS, Gainesville, FL 32611-0711, ph 904/377-0710.
Dr. Lionel Stange, Division of Plant Industry, P.O. Box 1269, Gainesville, FL
32602, ph 904/372-3505, ext. 126.
Don Harris, Chief, Bureau Methods Development, DPI, P.O. Box 1269,
Gainesville, FL 32602, ph 904/372-3505 ext 105.
Conrad Cramer, President, Florida State Beekeepers Assn., P.O. Box 585,
Sharps, FL 32595, ph 407/636-1408.
Dr. John Mulrennan, Jr., HRS Division of Health, Office of Entomology, P.O.
Box 210, Jacksonville, FL 322321, ph 904/359-6650, ext. 3223.
 
                        A GLIMPSE OF FLORIDA BEEKEEPING
 
This announces availability of a new video production, "A Glimpse of Florida
Beekeeping."  The purpose of this video (16 minutes, color) is to communicate
to the general public what  Florida beekeeping is all about and describe some
of the issues facing the industry today.   It was produced so that beekeepers
could have a visual aid to take to meetings or display at fairs and other
public gatherings.
 
The video will be available to county Cooperative Extension Offices through
the IFAS Audio Visual Library here in Gainesville.  It is not copyrighted and
so can be copied at will.  Be advised, however, that for each copy made, there
will be some loss of quality.  It is available as VT-297 on VHS 1/2 inch
format.  The other video mentioned above, "Africanized Bee Awareness," should
also be present in all county offices.  It will soon be available through the
audiovisual library and also carries no copyright.
 
                                BUMBLE BEE FOOD
 
I have had a request from a colleague for 50 lbs. of frozen pollen to be used
as bumble bee food in a research project.  If you can help, please get in
touch with me.
 
Sincerely,
 
 
Malcolm T. Sanford
0312 IFAS
202 Newell Hall
University of Florida
Gainesville, FL 32611-0312
Phone (904) 392-1801
BITNET Address: MTS@IFASGNV
INTERNET Address: [log in to unmask]