-----Original Message-----
From:   Blane White [SMTP:[log in to unmask]]
Sent:   Tuesday, January 29, 2002 10:29 AM
To:     [log in to unmask]
Subject:        Re: The Truth is Out There

Hello Blane and All,
Blane wrote:
Hold on there Mark.  I was also at the meeting and the remarks were in public - questions after her prepared talk and Dr Hoffman was representing the Tuscon Lab.
Thanks Blane for coming to my rescue. I have been told the question I asked which was the first question asked after Dr. Hoffman finished her talk is on the meeting ABF tape along with her response. 
Blane wrote:
Her talk was interesting and this was only a small part of it but she was describing the difficulties they were having keeping European colonies in an afticanized area.  This could be an issue in the future in pollination sets in California and so is very relevant research.  The taking over of european colonies by the africanized bees was very interesting and very quickly brought to mind the cape bee issue since the characters of the bees being described really did sound more cape than scut i.e. dark intercasts and dark bees of african origin.  I really don't think they have tried to determine if it is cape bees or scuts as they only say African vs European origin for the bees.  Kerr did import cape bees and in AZ the bees are in a more temperate climate which could select for the cape traits but whatever the source I had the same thoughts as Bob that she was describing cape bees not scuts which is a little different twist on the issue.
Bob wrote:
Beekeepers have long hoped the cape bee would never reach the Americas. When Dr. Orley Taylor was doing his research in Mexico on Africanized bees I attended many of his talks. Dr. Taylor assured me the bees he was studying were of Scut decent and other than constant swarming, absconding and a BAD attitude he saw no signs of cape bee behavior.  Many beekeepers (including myself) saw the $50,000 per year grant to Dr. Taylor as wasted research money. We teased Dr. Taylor (lovingly) about spending most of his time in Mexico chasing butterflies( his first love).
Capensis may or may not be a serious problem to U.S. beekeeping. Truthfully most researchers saw capensis as a big problem if ever allowed to get established in commercial U.S beekeeping populations. Dr. Shiminuki and I have discussed the problem at length. *Shim* saw small hive beetle as a very small problem but always saw the cape bee as a serious pest to U.S. beekeeping. Shim has been to South Africa to study both first hand. Sadly I greatly missed talking to *Shim* and his wife at the ABF convention. I was not alone in my thoughts. I believe Savannah was the first convention I ever attended which *Shim* was not at. Even though *Shim* and I did not always agree I still believe Dr. shiminuki to be one of the sharpest researchers I ever met. 
Blane wrote:
An interesting subject and one where we need answers.
Blane is as intense in the flesh as he is on Bee-L.  Late in the afternoon at the Apiary Inspectors of America meeting at the ABF convention  I got in over my head and Blane stepped forward to explain what I was trying to in technical terms the group could understand. Blane standing by the only beekeeper in the room impressed me because as usual I was in deep water.  We can all be proud of our bee inspectors as they were  very up on today's problems facing beekeeping. 
I never intended to drag the Lusby's into the Capensis issue. I do wonder why Dr. Calderone wants to spend half of a 1.8 million dollar grant on Africanized bees . I wonder why the need today to set up a documented strain of non Africanized bees from which bee breeders can always get non Africanized stock. I also wonder  if the USDA is planning on restrictions of bees coming in and out of AHB areas with Almond groves. 3,000 hives of bees never left the Rio Grande valley after AHB was found. Could the same happen in California?. Could a Midwest beekeeper which moved the bulk of his bees into Almonds yesterday (he did) be told at the end of a few weeks AHB had been found in his hives and he could not move his bees out. Has happened before. I believe the USDA needs to be up front with us so we can plan accordingly. We pay their wages and deserve to know what type of controls the USDA plans to use in their *futile* attempts at stopping the spread of Africanized bees into the Almond groves of California. 
Big question:
Is AHB the serious pest Dr. Calderone and Dr. Hoffman say or are we overreacting as Dee Lusby and Allen have suggested?  Surely after 16 years of study in earnest by the USDA we know all there is to know about  AHB OR is there something we are not being told? 
Half of a 1.8 million dollar grant is money which could be used in other much needed areas of bee research. Up until Dr. Hoffman's talk I figured we had spent all the money we would ever need to on AHB and now only eliminate AHB when a hive gets aggressive. In Texas in areas of Ahb my friends tell me a couple hives turn AHB every year and they are either killed or split three ways and given European queens. No big deal! Would someone from  the USDA please post why they (in their opinion) feel we need to spend half our research money on the AHB? If capensis is the reason I understand. If we are talking about scuts then what's the problem?
Sincerely,
Bob Harrison
Odessa, Missouri