> 
> I note that New Zealand now has Nosema ceranae but they have had their
> border shut for many years now. If NC is a recent transfer from Apis
> cerana, how did NZ get it? Could it be that NC has been around in mellifera
> for many years and that we did not pick it up as it looks similar to Nosema
> apis under the microscope?
> 

 
Nosema C was found in the Coromandel (Upper North Island) and at Christchurch at about the same time. (The Coromandel beekeeper was a kiwifruit pollinator).
 
 I don't know what the official response of how it came into NZ is, but beekeepers believe it came into the North Island on imported Italian kiwifruit pollen used for artificial pollination of kiwifruit.
 
The import protocols state that flowers must be collected before they are open but kiwifruit growers visiting Italy told beekeepers at a Psa meeting that they saw flowers being picked open when bees were about.  It doesn't take much to put one and one together.
 
The problem is how did it get into Christchurch - undeclared jar of imported honey discarded where bees could visit it? We don't know.
 
With the pollen came Psa (Pseudomonas syringae pv actinidiae), otherwise known as Psa) which is spreading through the Bay of Plenty killing all the gold variety of kiwifruit. Our Government now knows that pollen can contain bacteria.
 
Our Government believe in free trade before biosecurity. Basically we are a food producing country so have to trade.  When looking at imported goods, if there’s no research on a subject, MAF believe it must be safe so approve protocols to allow imports.  For years Beekeepers have been fighting a battle with our MAF to stop imports of Australian honey. We just don’t want any more bee related diseases.  
 
With two finds of P Alvei (one in the ground of an apiary and one in a bumble nest) and now Nosema ceranae, our MAF is well on the way to answering our objection to imports.
 
The good thing is that the world is finding more viruses and things that we hopefully don’t have so the argument goes on.
 
Frank Lindsay
NZ 		 	   		  
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