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Tue, 21 Jan 2003 07:51:26 -0500
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Hi Folk

At 18/01/03 22:26:00, Peter wrote:
>...(regarding Aussie. SHB)...
>As long as corporal bee transportation takes place...
>problems in control will occur...
>...as to spreading of pests from place to place, I suggest
>this nearly always comes down to actions taken by
>beekeepers or individuals related to the industry / pastime.
>...
>Stop international transfer of bees - or allow it to continue,
>with the inevitable consequences?

With regard to spread of small hive beetles it seems many folk are overlooking that there is another
vector, not bee-related at all, and to my mind is the more likely way that the beastie got into Oz, which
has essentially no bee-imports (and disregarding the nasty possibility of deliberate sabotage).

Small hive beetles are well documented to often spend time on fruit.  Here in NZ we are too often finding
north american spiders on imported grapes - there is no doubt that live bugs can come in that way.

While we're concentrating on restricting bee movements, we could well be blindsided by a shipment of
Aussie mangos (and currently our National Beekeeper's Association is too busy shooting itself in both
feet with a machinegun to really be effective at lobbying government to increase surveillance in this
direction following Australia's nasty surprise).

A couple of web sites that list some of the fruit involved:

<http://www.dpi.qld.gov.au/health/11035.html>
"Eischen et al. (1999) demonstrated that SHB could feed, apparently develop normally and
complete all life-cycle stages on fruit such as avocado, rockmelon and grapefruit. They
speculated that adult SHB prefer and seek out honey bee colonies, but when this food source is
scarce they will feed and complete their life cycle development on certain fruit. Eischen et al
indicated that SHB also fed on bananas, pineapple, grapes and mango. Movement of certain
types of fruit should be considered as a possible method of spreading SHB."

<http://www.honeycouncil.ca/shbrevw.html>
"they have been reported to be capable of developing on fruit such as avocado, banana
cantaloupe, grape, grapefruit, mango, orange, papaya, pineapple, and strawberry [9] and other
bee species such as bumble bees [37]."

As for north americans worrying about getting nasties from Oz or NZ - relax, its a strawman of those
seeking to create artificial trade barriers.  Both of these countries have less resident pests than north
america (Oz was merely catching up one with SHB), both take biosecurity very seriously, are bordered
by oceans, and have far lower trade volumes than north america - you should worry more about where
those bananas came from, next time you're at the supermarket.

-Pav, not a disciple of globalism.



_____________________________________________
  (\      Pav                                [log in to unmask]
 {|||8-  Ahaura, New Zealand
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