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 :::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: -- Visit www.honeybeeworld.com/BEE-L for rules, FAQ and other info --- ::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::