Concern as bee-killing mite spreads

A second emergency zone has been designated on the southern NSW border after bee hives were discovered to be infested with varroa mites.

A deadly varroa mite on the back of a bee.

A second emergency zone has been designated on the southern NSW border after bee hives brought in for the almond harvest were discovered to be infested with varroa mites.

The new eradication zone has a 25km diameter and extends to the Victorian border where authorities have been on alert since the discovery of the first infestation near Euston in the Sunraysia region on Thursday.

There are concerns the mite, which kills bees and can wipe out hives, could spread nationally, hampering the eradication effort that has so far been confined to NSW since the discovery of the pest in Australia in June last year.

It has the potential to severely restrict pollination of crops and orchards that rely on bees moving between flowers.

On Monday, the NSW Department of Primary Industries said the affected hives, found near Balranald, 25km northeast of the border, had been moved to the Riverina region from Kempsey on the state’s mid-north coast.

“This infestation is on the ­border with Victoria and is the fourth we have traced in the last week, which is a testament to the systems we have in place for hive movements,” DPI chief plant ­protection officer Shane Hetherington said.

Red dots show the spread of varroa mite in NSW. Picture: NSW DPI

“We are very grateful to the majority of beekeepers doing the right thing with their movement permits, which allows us to ­quickly identify links to infestations and conduct surveillance to uncover any mites which may have moved.

“We understand that these ­recent detections in areas previously free of Varroa mite are disappointing, but we are confident in our tracing systems and we are uncovering these sites quickly,” Dr Hetherington said.

Authorities have been scrambling to trace all beehives moved from Kempsey where a cluster was detected earlier this month.

“The source of the cluster in Kempsey is still being resolved as our teams rapidly follow all movements from that zone, so we are urging the community to continue to co-operate with us as we work to control the spread of this pest,” Dr Hetherington said.

Bees were moved to the region in recent months to aid in the ­annual pollination of almond and canola crops.

But the volume of flowers is ­diminishing, raising concerns that bees forced to stay in the eradication zone will starve.

“NSW DPI will need to complete surveillance on high-risk hives in order to develop a plan, which will allow necessary movement of hives while minimising the risk of spreading varroa further,” Dr Hetherington said.

“We are prioritising this work and will provide beekeepers with advice in the near future.

“We continue to work hard to gather surveillance data in all regions to understand where the mite is and contain it, and we strongly encourage all bee keepers to keep up to date with their ­alcohol washes.”

The new detection brings the total number of infested premises to 222.