Andy,
 
    In response to your e-mail, a couple of points;
 
    1.  I don't have the figures in front of me of the actual volume of bees
    shipped from NZ to Canada.  I have requested this info from Agriculture
    Canada and I may be able to offer that in a few days.
 
    I like to make the point however (which I should have done yesterday), that
    most of the bees sent from NZ to Canada involve queens, not packages.  The
    queens do not pose any risk because of the manner in which  they are
    packaged and handled.  It are packages that are the contentious issue.
 
    2.  In your e-mail you mention that Hawaii remains the only Varroa free
    state of the US.  I fully agree, it should remain that way.  But NZ is also
    free of Varroa and I suspect it is equally determined to keep itself free of
    the mite. So, in regards to Varroa, NZ does not pose any risk to Hawaii.
    The previous discussion was focusing on a list of some exotic, incidental
    pathogens reported to be present in NZ and whose distribution in other parts
    of the world is not well known.
 
    3.  The need of transshipment via Hawaii has been strictly logistical.
    There are no non-stop flights from NZ to Canada.  Different carriers are
    involved to cover the Pacific routes with fuel stops in Hawaii.  Last year,
    when former Sec. of Agric. Mike Espy did not authorize bee transshipments
    through Hawaii, NZ suppliers and Canadian buyers were in a scramble and
    looked for alternate routes.  L.A. was an alternative but was not authorized
    either.  Singapore, Bangkok and Hong Kong were possible alternatives but
    uncertainty about the handling of such shipments under tropical conditions
    and in locations where Tropilaelaps clarae is known to exist, these routes
    were considered unacceptable.  The only remaining connection was via Tokyo
    and indeed, some shipments did go through at considerably higher expense.
 
    4.  I think it is also important to put the issue in perspective. Some may
    think that NZ may inundate North America with their bees.  That will never
    happen.  Although NZ bees may not be very expensive, the total cost with the
    freight make these bees pretty expensive livestock.  So, there is a
    substantial economic constraint to package importations.  With queens, this
    is similar because other sources (eg. Hawaii and on the continent) are too
    competitively priced.   In addition to the economic issue,  I believe that
    the stresses of intercontinental shipments place limitations on the bees
    themselves.   Anyone having flown accross the Pacific knows the after
    effects, of being 'under the weather' for a few days.  Well, I suspect that
    if you are only 280 mg in weight of which at least 1/3 is comprised of
    swollen, sensitive ovaries, and you are placed in a box, subjected to rapid
    pressure changes, vibrations, temperature and humidty fluctuations,
    increased ozone levels and physical shocks (not to mention the change in
    season), you will be under the weather too.  In some cases, these queens
    started beautifully in their new Canadian home for about three weeks and
    boom, they were superseded.   This is not happening all the time, nor does
    it reflect on the quality of the NZ stock but instead, I believe, the
    cumulative stresses of shipment may have been responsible.
 
    In short, accessing NZ for bees, has mostly been treated as a valuable,
    complementary source of good quality stock for Canadian producers.  For the
    industry as a whole, it has never been regarded as the principal and sole
    supplier of beestock in the spring (as California used to be for Western
    Canada prior to 1988).   I believe American buyers will regard the NZ source
    in a similar manner in the future.
 
    regards,
 
    Paul van Westendorp                         [log in to unmask]
    Provincial Apiarist
    British Columbia