Lloyd Spear wrote:

> Personally, I am sorry that Dave Green and probably others have felt I was
> attacking migratory operations.  I had no intention of doing so.  I was
> instead pointing out that some inspection programs are so compromised as to
> be very questionable.

SHB is in Maine and did come from migratory beekeepers. It has been
found in their colonies by the State Bee Inspector. The operators had to
deal with them.

Varroa came to Maine the same way. Operators have to deal with it when
found. Maybe tracheal did too. I am sure resistant AFB will too. And
AHB, if it has not already.

So, what? It just means we deal with a problem now rather than later.
There is no way that the State will stop pollinators at the border to
protect the local hobby beekeepers and in so doing destroy a multi
million dollar blueberry operation. I agree with that choice.

The nice thing is, we have an exceptional Inspector who has the backing
of the Blueberry industry, so the commercial pollinators listen and do
what he says. Otherwise, they are not invited back.

We hobby beekeepers are fairly well protected, or at least as well as
could be expected.

Truth is, I know of only one beekeeper who had a major problem that
destroyed many of his colonies, and that was not because of a commercial
operation in the area (he is a small scale pollinator), but by a hobby
beekeeper.

Bill Truesdell
Bath, Maine

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