One Year On: Low honey stocks mark long road back for Kangaroo Island apiarists

Kangaroo Island’s Ligurian bee colonies will take years to rebuild, with honey stocks low this year after much of the insects’ habitat was destroyed.

Island Beehive owner Peter Davis with some of the hives he managed to save from the fires. Picture: Dean Martin

Rebuilding Kangaroo Island’s Ligurian bee colonies will take years, the sector says, amid low honey stocks after fires burned through much of their habitat.

Kangaroo Island Beekeepers Association acting president Shawn Hinves said while native bushland was recovering, much of it would take two or three years to flower. “None of us know whether we’ll ever get back to the production we had,” Mr Hinves said.

“We’re talking about some trees that were 40 or 50 years old that were taken out by the fires.”

Apiarists lost between 1100 and 1200 hives during the blazes last summer – about a third of island’s total.

Fire-affected Ligurian bee hives on Hanson Bay Road, Hanson Bay. Picture: Emma Brasier

Those with bees that survived but lost habitat have tried moving hives to unburnt areas, but the extra competition for food and a cool, damp, spring, has hampered honey production.

“The amount of bee hives on the same amount of scrub has increased dramatically,” Mr Hinves said.

“We’ve gone through the ringer … and we’ll be struggling for another two or three years minimum.”

A Ligurian bee on Kangaroo Island. Picture: Supplied

Mr Hinves said the short honey supply would continue, but urged South Australians to keep supporting the region’s beekeepers by buying honey when they saw it on shop shelves.

Peter Davis, owner of Island Beehive, moved more than 100 hives to the Dudley Peninsula this year but with little success.

“We brought them back virtually empty of honey,” said Mr Davis, whose son’s home was destroyed in the blaze.

He said the large numbers of SA tourists were “travelling overseas” to support the region – a welcome boost.

“There’s a lot of new people coming that have never been to Kangaroo Island before,” he said.

Island Beehive lost 500 of its 1100 hives last summer, and 300 it managed for others.

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