00:00 From the tallest of timbers to the smallest saplings,
00:07 Mary trees are in full bloom across southern WA.
00:12 The bumper blossom season is good news for beekeepers.
00:16 It's everywhere and pretty much every tree has got either something on or it's absolutely
00:20 loaded with bud.
00:22 The unique nectar is yielding several hundred kilos of honey a day.
00:26 Looks good, looks nice and full.
00:28 But these producers fear it will be the last time they see a harvest this big before the
00:32 imminent arrival of the destructive Varroa mite.
00:35 The pest was first detected in Australia in 2022.
00:39 Nearly 50,000 hives were destroyed by the mite across NSW and it's continuing to spread.
00:46 It's a matter of when, not if.
00:49 We're trying to do everything we can to prepare our own businesses and look to the east coast
00:53 and further abroad to New Zealand as to what life might look like for us.
00:59 So 40 sentinel hives have been placed around the state to act as like an early warning
01:03 system for the eventual incursion of the Varroa mite into WA.
01:08 Certainly commercial beekeepers are on high alert but authorities say the onus for monitoring
01:12 hives also spreads to the hobbyists.
01:17 People like me, one of 20,000 people who took up this fascinating hobby during or after
01:23 COVID.
01:26 The roles and the responsibilities of these recreational beekeepers are no different to
01:31 any other beekeeper.
01:32 By security, responsibilities are paramount.
01:35 Beekeepers banding together to protect this liquid gold for as long as possible.
01:39 [BLANK_AUDIO]
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