Great discussion, all!  Glad to see some new faces.

I would love to see someone convince the grape growers that bees would
improve the quality of their crop--that would immediately give California
beekeepers a huge shot in the arm!

>But consider this: quarantines on the movement honey bees were tried in an
> effort to limit honey bee pathogens and in all cases failed.
>

Pete, I feel that you may be overextending on this point.  They have hardly
failed--in fact, they postponed the import of several serious pathogens, and
likely the AHB.  There are still other serious pests and pathogens out there
that we don't want.

I strongly support a well-designed importation protocol, including
quarantine, for any overseas shipments of bees--overseas being the operative
word, since the seas are natural barriers to bee pathogen distribution.

At the same time, I realize that such quarantines are futile, if our
northern and southern neighbors do not take part.

Randy Oliver

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