22 May 2000

Varroa traces top 2,000

Seven new Infected Places have been found within the original Infected Zone - bringing the total to 273 - after following 2,017 traces. The new Infected Places are owned by four new beekeepers, raising the total to 126.

The new finds are all within the South Auckland and Hauraki Plains "hotspots", mostly owned by small-scale beekeepers, and the result of in-fill survey work by 21 teams. MAF spokesman John Hayes says that the detections are the predictable result of refining the knowledge of the known Infected Area. 19 teams are working in the southern part of the Infected Area today, and more Infected Places can be expected from that work.

Technical expertise has been concentrated at MAF's National Centre for Disease Investigation (NCDI) in Wallaceville, near Upper Hutt for strategic analysis of a number of technical and logistical issues. As a result, some aspects of the varroa campaign have been transferred to the NCDI. They include Infected Places management, tracing, movement control, and apiary register work.

The practical consequence for beekeepers of this shift should be minimal: the free-phone movement permit request operation on 0800 109 183 has been redirected to Wallaceville, and the fax number for requesting movement permits has changed to 04 526 5601.