00:00 We've always been concerned about getting varroa here in Australia and the biggest problem
00:06 is being able to manage it.
00:10 Once we can trace it, we know it's got no viruses, we can then make a plan to move to
00:18 management or transition to management.
00:20 At the moment we're still euthanizing hives, even hives with no varroa mite present or
00:26 detected in them.
00:28 And this is what's putting a big angst in the industry because we don't know why we're
00:34 still doing that.
00:35 Okay, so eradication is still the strategy, but you're questioning whether that is the
00:40 way forward.
00:41 Yes, well, we're now into almost 13 months and we still haven't got on top of it.
00:50 It's been here for two years that they're saying previous before we discovered it.
00:55 Are we behind the eight ball?
00:59 We don't know what the transition to management will look like.
01:04 We don't know what's going to happen, what's in plan, what's the cost going to be.
01:09 Everything when we're moving forward and this is when businesses or industry can't make
01:14 any decisions on what's going to happen.
01:18 So about 100 commercial and recreational beekeepers attended a briefing in Kempsey last night.
01:25 What are they saying?
01:26 I mean, are they okay to do away with eradication?
01:29 But like you want to know what the steps are forward or are some still for this eradication
01:34 strategy?
01:36 I think all beekeepers in New South Wales, if not Australia, really would love to see
01:43 eradication.
01:44 The thing that we're saying, is it feasible?
01:47 Where is industry going to be in another six months time?
01:50 Like we're already saying the effects for pollination.
01:56 The pollination in the almond industry at the moment has been hectic over the last few
02:00 years.
02:01 We now have pollination in the blueberries.
02:03 We're just about to go into cherries and a lot of other stone fruits down in the Riverina.
02:09 We have a lot of bees out on canola.
02:12 We have macadamia starting in a couple of months, avocados.
02:16 Now if we can't pollinate these fruit or vegetables, it's the cost going to go up.
02:22 How are we going to do this?
02:23 This is where the problem comes in.
02:26 Okay, so what does management of this look like?
02:31 A lot of education we feel, because not many people in Australia have had any experience
02:38 with the broa mite, unless you've actually been overseas and been able to work with broa.
02:46 If you haven't, to understand different management tools, what's going to happen?
02:50 What's the cost going to be to you, the beekeeper, just to keep your hives alive?
02:55 What have you got to do?
02:56 How do you detect broa mite other than alcohol washes or drone uncapping or anything like
03:04 that?
03:05 All these sorts of things are what we've got to learn so that we can live with broa.
03:11 Every other country in the world, yes, they live with broa, but they also have viruses.
03:19 And so as they live with broa, what is the effect of that?
03:22 Is the output just not as high?
03:27 I call it intense beekeeping.
03:30 What happens there is you must be in your hives a lot more.
03:34 So at the moment, it's two times a year by law that we must inspect our hives for any
03:40 disease or pests and then report them.
03:43 Whereas broa mite, if you leave your hive for say a month and it has any broa mite in
03:49 it, it builds up rapidly and then that's what actually makes the hive collapse.
03:56 And so in the meantime, we've had these latest detections.
03:59 I would think that they are going to be destroyed, those bees.
04:03 Is that your understanding?
04:06 I don't think anyone's against anywhere where we find the actual broa mite destroying those
04:12 hives.
04:13 What the problem is, is destroying hives or euthanizing hives that have got no detection
04:18 in them.
04:21 And for those who have had their hives destroyed, though, how are they faring?
04:28 Look, mentally, it's really playing very hard because like these people, it's like all of
04:36 us, we like our bees, we really enjoy our bees.
04:40 So it's like a pet to a lot of people.
04:43 Us commercial guys, it's a little bit more easier, shall I say that, but not easy in
04:50 the sense that, oh, well, we'll just get on with life.
04:53 You see, some of our commercial guys have got their sheds, their extraction sheds in
04:58 the red zones and they've got bees in the purple zones or bees in the blue zone and
05:02 they can't bring their gear in to extract it.
05:06 They're struggling.
05:07 So they're stressing, are they going to have a business in another six months?
05:12 People who have contracts to do pollination, can they service those?
05:16 These are all things that we can't answer because we don't know the plan forward.
05:20 [BLANK_AUDIO]
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