14 April 2000

599 hives inspected so far for varroa mite

MAF's official daily incident controller's report released today says that at the close of play last night, 599 hives were inspected for the varroa mite on 78 apiaries in the controlled area. Of this number, 163 hives were infected on 16 apiaries.

These figures differ slightly from the unofficial figures released last night.

The controlled area takes in the Rodney District, North Shore City, Waitakere City, Auckland City, Manukau City, Papakura District, Franklin District, Waikato District, Hamilton City, and Hauraki District. A controlled area means that movements of any bees (live or dead), beehives, supers of honey or bee equipment are not permitted in or out of the area.

The number of field teams operating today (Friday 14) is 15. The teams consist of personnel from MAF, AgriQuality, and the National Beekeepers Association. Today's strategy will be to begin testing in the controlled area perimeter apiary districts, employing Apistan strips as a diagnostic method. This is necessary to provide confidence that the infected area is completely circumscribed.

Activity outside the controlled area has so far consisted of a restricted place notice being placed on an Otago property, which a field team will visit today to begin testing using the Apistan diagnosis method.

Samples of mites taken from an Opotiki property made a restricted place on Wednesday, are not the varroa mite, according to laboratory results.

It appears the property's hives are harbouring an endemic species, Mellitiphis alvearius, of mite. This species is commonly mistaken for varroa. It is associated with honeybees, but is not a parasite of honeybees.

The Opotiki property however, remains a high-risk trace property, in that its hives were recently in the controlled area. It will remain a restricted place, with Apistan used in its hives today. Tracing of bee movements from this property to others will also continue.

A high-risk trace also led the team to Tokoroa, where bee samples have been taken from the hives and sent to National Plant Pests Reference Laboratory (NPPRL) at Lincoln for diagnoses. Tracing is where a team follows the movement of bees, hives and used equipment from one property to another. The team will focus on tracing high-risk movement from confirmed infected premises in the controlled area.

There are eight people working on the high-risk trace team. Sixty-five traces have been followed up from the known infected premises in the controlled area, with 85 traces to be completed.

MAF continues to receive large numbers of calls from beekeepers on its Exotic Disease Hotline (0800-809-966). Calls from within the controlled area indicating significant risks are followed up with an inspection. Of these, 104 public notifications have been responded to, with 40 outstanding.

Beekeepers with any concerns should telephone the MAF Exotic Disease Hotline at 0800 809 966.