Deadly honey-bee parasite varroa mite spreads further south, detected at Bega for first time
A commercial beekeeper fears the destructive honey-bee parasite varroa mite is spreading through southern New South Wales faster than surveillance and detection systems can manage.
The flat, button-shaped parasite feeds on bees, weakening them and eventually destroying hives.
The mites, first detected in NSW at the Port of Newcastle in 2022, have recently been detected as far south as Bega on the NSW far south coast, and further north, near Nowra.
The detections come after the federal government's decision earlier this year to shift away from an attempt to eradicate the parasite and focus on a transition to management.
Bega-based commercial beekeeper Doug Somerville has worked with bees for 45 years.
He said he was not surprised that low levels of varroa mite had now been detected in Bega.
"They can travel as fast as 100 to 110 kilometres an hour," Dr Somerville said.
"And we've got a lot of folks moving [beehives] up and down [the highway] from Sydney to the south coast.
"It's going to happen, just a matter of when."
Dr Somerville said it was important that beekeepers increased their surveillance to keep up to date with the spread of the mites.
"Once you actually start seeing mites in a colony, then your attitude needs to change," he said.
"Sooner or later we'll have to treat and ... start determining which treatments you're going to use."
High levels of infestation in the Shoalhaven
Department of Primary Industries National NSW Varroa 'Transition to Management' coordinator, Tamara Prentice, said the Shoalhaven currently had high levels of infestation, mostly around Nowra.
She said she was shocked at how fast mites were collapsing colonies.
A Shoalhaven beekeeper received a negative test result for mites on their hive in March, but Ms Prentice said when varroa development officers attended the site in June "the hive was dead".
"The rate of infestation is so high that we're just seeing hives die within a much shorter period than we were expecting," she said.A 2022 statewide emergency order issuing a "bee lockdown" and banning the movement of bees across NSW was lifted in May this year.
Ms Prentice said the control order was lifted to minimise ongoing impacts on Australia's bee and pollination-dependent industries, such as almonds.
"[Growers] need about three quarters of the eastern state's beekeepers to be able to move the hives to service the almonds," she said.
Focus on education
The current transition to a management plan aimed to increase resilience, educate the industry on testing and treating for mites, and minimise pollination-dependent industry impacts.
Laura Patmore's business, That Local Honey at Kiama, has focused on breeding varroa-resistant queen bees, as well as educating other beekeepers.
Ms Patmore said it was likely that some of her 100 breeding colonies would become infected in the coming weeks, but she felt prepared.
"It's very easy to feel overwhelmed by it all," Ms Patmore said.
"I know that there's a lot of small-scale beekeepers who are feeling quite anxious about what's to come."
She said education, action and reporting were critical for the next 'acute' stage of infestation.
"It's going to be in every single colony in Australia over the next few years," she said.
"It's just a matter of checking diligently and helping any beekeepers who don't know how."
'Silver lining'
Ms Patmore said she was monitoring for varroa every four weeks using an alcohol wash.
Bees can be tested for the parasite using the wash, which allows the mites to drop off the insects and then counted for data.
Ms Patmore believed varroa entering the south coast had a "silver lining".
"We can't test for varroa unless we have varroa in the area," she said.
"Now that we have it, we can get stuck into the work and learn how to live with this thing," she said.
She said varroa mite could wipe out 70 per cent of the country's bee population and kill all wild or feral colonies.
"If colonies aren't treated, they will collapse," she said.
"If ever there's a time to work together, it's now."
