Tasmanian Beekeeper Association president Lindsay Bourke says state had tough honey season during the summer

The bushfires on the West Coast have been blamed for a tough honey season for Tasmanian beekeepers after hives and precious leatherwood trees were burned to the ground.

A bee hive.

The West Coast summer bushfires has burned a hole in the state’s honey industry after hives and precious leatherwood trees were decimated, the Tasmanian Beekeeper Association says.

“It’s been very bad for us because some of us had to shift our bees way before the season finished,” president Lindsay Bourke said.

“We only have a short season to start with, at the end of summer, and we had to shift our bees two weeks before the season finished.

“And that disrupted them; there was lots of smoke, so the bees weren’t getting honey. A lot of our country was destroyed, and I lost eight hives; completely burnt to the ground.”

Tasmanian Beekeeper Association president Lindsay Bourke at Symmons Plains. PICTURE CHRIS KIDD

Countless leatherwood trees were also destroyed in the fire.

“The leatherwood trees won’t come back into those areas in my lifetime because they don’t grow in ash soil,” Mr Bourke said.

“Unlike the eucalypts, who love ash, the rainforest species like leatherwood do not like ash. The manukas will be back within three years, but not the leatherwood.

“Some of those sites are just desolate, just all black.”

But Mr Bourke said it was not all bad news for the state’s honey industry.

“I believe the people in the south got a bit more honey than the north and the northwest,” he said.

“Some of us have a bit of stock that will help us get through, but we didn’t get a lot of honey. We had a good pollinating season, though, beforehand.”

Apiarist Lindsay Bourke.

Despite the challenges, Mr Bourke said Tasmanian honey was unique.

“We are the luckiest beekeepers in the whole world because our honey is so pure,” he explained.

“We don’t have varroa mite, and we don’t have a terrible thing called small hive beetle that’s right through Australia.”

Tasmania has been able to avoid both pests, with Mr Bourke describing the state as “a little enclave”.

“We’re very lucky we can do beekeeping as beekeepers have always done beekeeping in the past; we’re very, very lucky,” he said.

“We have four seasons, and we have the most pure air and the cleanest place in the whole world in the West Coast — not even people live there, or not many.

“You could say that every bit of West Coast leatherwood and manuka that Tasmania produces is organic, the best honey in the whole world.”

Originally published as Tasmanian Beekeeper Association president Lindsay Bourke says state had tough honey season during the summer