Some beekeepers find it disappointing that CCD is getting over the top visibility when the
underlying problems in the industry are not being addressed.
Why not spend the money and resources to tackle the mite/chemical input/virus cycle affecting
probably 90% of the beekeepers in the USA?
For me CCD is a gas bag of misdirected concern when we have the myriad of problems associated
with mites, contaminated comb and viruses etc that could be at least put on a path of
sustainability with a nationawide push of government/academic and industry resources..
Dann's message could be implied to read lets focus on the cores issues and not get sidetracked in
the weeds over trivial issues.
I would concede that there may be a historical record of disappearing bees. So what. How big of a
problem is that compared to the hole we are in with mites etc?
I felt the exchange on his web page clearly illustrated the lack of understanding some beekeepers
have of the state of honey bee heatlh in the USA. My sense is that the beekeeper he conversed
with represents the typical migratory beekeeper. That's a scary thought.
I just returned from a trip to CA where I met several beekeepers and queen producers. While I
found no evidence of CCD I found plenty of Same Stuff Different Day (SSDD) mentaliity.
My own opinion is the Fall of 2005 mite crash losses in the USA far outweighs the tiny number of
colonies claimed to be afflicted with CCD.
The bottom line is this media circus on CCD may do more harm then good by misdirecting the
attention from the real core issues.
***********************************************************************************
* Full guidelines for BEE-L posting are at: *
* http://www.honeybeeworld.com/bee-l/guidelines.htm *
***********************************************************************************