Aaron, Peter, Bob, et all:

Bob, as a practical beekeeper, you point out some of the sharp challenges 
involved in the logistics of microscopic sampling at the port of entry; 
the labor, the time, the cost, and most important, the welfare of the 
shipped bees themselves, just to name a few.  (Perhaps the time-consuming 
examination process can be done at the country of origin before shipment)  
That granted, though, I just don’t see how a visual examination serves 
much purpose as the pathogens do not seem to come from the normal suspects 
any more, a point I believe Jim has been making.  SHB serves as a good 
example.

Peter, as I have once praised you for your indefatigable source-checking, 
I thank you for all the hard data-mining you have been doing, and I know 
how hard that homework is; for instance, I tried to Google “Migratory 
Beekeeping Problems” this morning, but I could not find too many sources 
hitting the nail on the head.  Certainly I can think of many reasons for 
such lack of objective look at the migratory beekeeping and its impact to 
the beekeeping industry as a whole.  To name one, when such practice 
started around 1922, as you say, nobody felt the need to do research on 
the practice since such beekeeping seemed then “natural” because the 
external variables were not as challenging as now.  Another reason may be 
that researches on beekeeping have been on helping them do better in 
migratory operation, given its financial value; after all, they contribute 
largely to the national economy.  They are the sanctum sanctorum in 
beekeeping; thus, nobody dared to examine their practice until the arrival 
of CCD recently.  Sideliners and hobbyists cannot even form a unified 
front so far, let alone organizing their voices at the national level.  
This can and probably will change.

Steve, the argument that many people’s livelihood depends on migratory 
beekeeping appears to me a non sequitur to the issue of the impact of 
migratory beekeeping and its mite dispersion, the focal point of this 
thread; even species go extinct regularly.  People get downsized under 
challenging circumstances, as well.

Finally, Aaron, thanks for your response.  As you well aware, the bone of 
contention was not the modus operandi—-how the mites came ashore on the 
island.  Nor was it to reconfirm the presence of mites on the island.  
These points are indeed moot.  Rather, it was how the island has *delayed* 
the mites through, for the lack of better word, self-quarantine, thanks to 
geographical isolation from the infected bees.

To wit, their QUARRENTINE successfully DISALLOWED the mites from coming 
ashore for as long as twenty years, helping them buy time to draw the 
battle plan in advance, evidence that seems to attest that proximity 
matters.

Yoon

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