STATE OF CALIFORNIA
GRAY DAVIS, Governor

DEPARTMENT OF FOOD AND AGRICULTURE
1220 N Street, Room A-372
Sacramento, CA 95814
(916) 654-0312

October 19, 2001

To: All Honeybee Shippers

From: Department of Food and Agriculture

Subject: Requirements for Honeybee Shipments Entering California for the 2001/02 Season


All honeybee shipments entering California will be placed under QUARANTINE HOLD and subject to destination inspection by the county departments of agriculture. This move is necessary due to the possibility of colony contamination with Red Imported Fire Ant (RIFA) from previous locations. This serious pest is frequently found to be hitchhiking on honeybee colonies entering California.

Inspectors at California's border stations will ascertain the destination delivery location of all shipments of honeybee colonies and notify the appropriate county agricultural officials of their pending arrival. The honeybee colonies will be placed under quarantine hold and the driver will be instructed to contact the county agricultural commissioner upon arrival at destination for further instructions. The colonies will be carefully inspected for the presence of RIFA; if found, appropriate action will be taken including treatment of destruction of the infested colonies. If determined to be free of this and other serious pests, the colonies will be released from hold.

To assure that honeybee shipments are not delayed at the California border stations, all honeybee colonies should be free of dirt and debris and checked for RIFA contamination at origin. In addition, drivers should be prepared to provide exact physical locations where the colonies will be placed (a post office box will not be accepted), total number of colonies included in the shipment, and the state of the most recent origin. Health certificates will not be necessary to clear shipments at the border stations; however, if they are found infested with RIFA they will be subject to rejection from entry into California with the following exception:

Shipments of honeybees free of soil and debris but found to be lightly infested with ants may, on a case-by-case basis, be allowed to transit to a specified site near Needles, California and be cleaned at the owner's expense. This would be done under State supervision and guidance. Upon satisfactory cleaning, shipments would be allowed to proceed to destination for final inspection by county agricultural officials. This procedure would apply only once to any shipper found to have colonies contaminated with ants at the border. Second and subsequent shipments containinq ants would be rejected from the same shipper.

Any questions about moving honeybee colonies to California should be directed to the California Department of Food and Agriculture's Pest Exclusion Branch at (916) 654-0312.