May, 2000

Government officials continue to find varroa, everywhere they look, it seems. Plans for eradication are on hold for the moment.
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Varroa Spread In NZ

A setback for New Zealand in the fight against the varroa mite
after a hive on a property on the Coromandel Peninsula tested
positive.

The Ministry of Agriculture said it appeared that two adjacent
hives on the same property had also been infected at very low
levels.

Program co-ordinator Matthew Stone said the find was the
result of a trace from the infected area in the Hauraki Plains,
where the infected hive - now on the Coromandel - was placed for
several weeks in November.

Stone said it was important to establish if this was an
isolated infection, or there has been a wider spread of varroa on
the peninsula and apiary sites in the area are being tested.

Elsewhere, eight more infected sites were confirmed within the
Infected Zone.

The latest finds of varroa mites takes the number of inspected
hives to 112 in apiaries owned by 36 beekeepers. Some 24,516 hives
have been tested in 1,341 apiaries.

Sent to us by Alan Harman

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Kim Flottum
Editor, Bee Culture Magazine
http://www.airoot.com/beeculture/index.htm