[berkshire bee]

Here's a link to the latest "catch the Buzz' ezine about the spread of Asian bees in Australia. I'm sure the US will wait till the horse is out of the barn before closing the door on Australian imports. Eventually, we'll be sorry.

http://home.ezezine.com/1636/1636-2010.05.05.13.35.archive.html

 

[Doc5000]

I talked to the local state bee inspector, who told me that, for some completely moronic reason, the governing agency (USDA?) has decided that they should do a two year study to see if the bees are already here before they take action to prevent them from arriving. I can't figure out why they won;t have to do another study after that to see if they came in during the study. That is complety foolish. Ban the imports, do the study, if the Asian bees are already here, lift the ban.

 

[josethayil]

Some of the things in the article above is completely wrong. Its just like anyone can write anything about anything if the person reading does not know a thing about it. Thats what i make out of the above article.

Twice as many European hives needed for pollination of any crop for the same performance - Wrong - Asian honey bees are great for pollination and they have been used through out asia for pollination. if you have asian honeybees and european honey bees doing pollination, why would you need twice as many european bee hives for pollination?

Can not be managed for pollination Wrong - Asian honey bees are managed for honey production and pollination through out asia.

Lost honey production, reduced by 80% once it becomes present, then reduced further once established in an area wrong - Asian honey bee does compete for resources but does not out compete european honey bees in foraging abilities.

Aggressive Wrong - Not all sub species of asian honey bees are aggressive. Some subspecies are very gentle and easy to handle like the european honey bees without any smoke of protective equipment. There are aggressive subspecies also just like in the european bees(Africanized bees)

What i find from the above article is that its just a way of injecting fear into people beacuse most people have not worked with asian honey bees and wont know anything about it.

I have kept asian honey bees in india along with european honey bees where both species coexist together in the same apiary.

 

[Keith Jarrett]

BB, very well said.

 

[Tom G. Laury]

We have a chance for input right now with USDA have you filed your opinion?

They want to get comments from US bee peeps regarding Aussie imports.

 

[Klaus]

Tom,
Do you have a link to voice an opinion? Thanks.

BB

Sounds like another typical Govt. "Ready, Fire....Aim" scenario. :scratch:

 

[Tom G. Laury]

I knew someone would ask that...It's been posted here on Bsource.