9 May 2000

7 new varroa Infected Places

Seven new varroa Infected Places within the original Infected Zone have been confirmed in the laboratory. The total number of Infected Places is now 174, involving 2,499 hives. The number of beekeepers owning apiaries with Infected Places has risen by three to 56. 1,610 apiaries have now been visited, and the total number of hives on visited apiaries is 30,800.

Teams are now testing apiary sites in the vicinity of the Restricted Place near Te Puke notified yesterday, resulting in some resources being diverted from the original Infected Area. Determining whether the Te Puke find represents an isolated case or an indication of the potential for more widespread infection in the Bay of Plenty area has been assigned a high priority.

Yesterday's beekeepers' meeting in Auckland, attended by over 200 beekeepers, was the opportunity for an extensive update on the varroa campaign by speakers from the National Beekeepers' Association, AgriQuality New Zealand Ltd and the National Centre for Disease Investigation.

An invitation has been sent to 480 hobbyist beekeepers to attend a seminar

this weekend at the Allenby Park Motor Inn, Papatoetoe. On Saturday two technical sessions (9-11am and 1-3pm) will instruct hobby beekeepers on how to test their hives with the inspection kits they will later receive. On Sunday the beekeepers will return with their samples to be tested in an initiative that should fill in most of the smaller gaps in the testing of domesticated honey bees in the Infected Area.

The movement permit free-phone operation (0800 109 383) received 25 new requests for permits, with seven issued and some issues to resolve on eight requests.