Varroa mite outbreak reaches ‘grim milestone’ as eradication fight continues

A year on from the detection of varroa mite in NSW beehives, the fight to eradicate the honey bee parasite is far from over.

Key points:

It has been one year since varroa mite was detected in sentinel hives at the Port of NewcastleA change to the cost-sharing agreement of the response will see government taking on a greater loadGovernment and industry are confident the exotic disease will be eradicated by June 2026

New infestations of the mite, which is deadly to bees, continue to be discovered and the financial fallout runs into tens of millions of dollars.

Eradication efforts will continue for at least another three years.

Australian Honey Bee Industry Council chief executive Danny LeFeuvre said the anniversary this week of the initial detection of the mite in sentinel hives in the Port of Newcastle had been hard for beekeepers.

“It’s a grim milestone,” he said.

A varroa mite on a live worker bee in a red eradication zone in NSW.(Supplied: Steve Fuller)

“I was never hoping to ever have to say the words that we’d be celebrating one year into a varroa incursion in Australia, but here we are.”

The number of infested premises in NSW now stands at 167.

In the past year, the NSW Department of Primary Industries (DPI) and beekeepers have sampled more than 130,000 hives, with 25,000 euthanased across nearly 1 million hectares of red zones.

Red, or eradication zones, are areas within a 10-kilometre radius of a detection.

Thousands of hives are required each year for the almond pollination season.(ABC Features: Jennifer Douglas)

DPI varroa response coordinator Chris Anderson said while varroa remained active in the state, containing it to current levels had been “an astounding achievement”.

“We have prevented it from spreading into the greater part of NSW and that alone is saving the bee industry millions of dollars a year,” he said.

“It puts us in a position where we have bought time and that time is invaluable for the pollination industries and the bee industry.”

The full cost of the biosecurity response has not been released.

Honey production halved

The cost to industry is difficult to determine, with the varroa outbreak not only affecting beekeepers, but fruit and vegetable growers who rely on bees for pollination.

Steve Fuller, one of the largest honey producers on the NSW east coast, and estimated the varroa mite outbreak had cost his business close to $1 million.

He said a quarter of those losses have been reimbursed by government.

“At the moment, we’ve lost close to about 400 hives,” he said.

Mr Fuller said his usual annual production of 200 to 300 tonnes of honey has halved.

“I won’t say it’s just varroa but it’s made it a lot harder because we’ve had a number of hard years with floods and fires but we’re still down 150 to 200 tonnes of honey,” he said.

Steve Fuller says the horticultural crops relying on pollination have also been hit hard by varroa mite incursion.(ABC Rural: Kim Honan)

He said falling honey prices and rising diesel prices were also impacting producers’ bottom line, and some had chosen to leave the industry.

“I know about six here on the North Coast that have said they’re not coming back, they’ve sold up and gone.”

Chris Anderson said the DPI had not seen a large drop in the number of registered beekeepers in NSW.

The cost of the response across the 16 affected industries, including honey, fruit, nut and seed peak bodies, is expected to drop after the government agreed to increase its share of the bill from 50 to 80 per cent.

Varroa mites are tiny, red-brown external parasites of honey bees.(Supplied: Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry)

Can varroa mite be eradicated?

The Consultative Committee on Emergency Plants Pests (CCEPP) is close to agreeing on a three-year response strategy to eradicate varroa mite in NSW by June 2026.

Mr LeFeuvre said any non-compliance by beekeepers would derail that goal.

“We need everyone to follow the rules that are in place … it’s certainly achievable but it’s a huge task,” he said.

A NSW beekeeper checking hives for presence of varroa mite.(Supplied: NSW Department of Primary Industries)

Mr LeFeuvre said there was still no determination of the origin of the mite population.

“At the moment [genomic testing is] pointing towards the North America region, but it’s still not clear as to the specific point of origin,” he said.

He said potential sources including New Zealand and some of the Asia Pacific islands had been ruled out.

Mr Anderson said work to determine the point of entry of the mite into Australia was still ongoing.

A euthanased hive wrapped in plastic on an orchard in the Nana Glen eradication zone.(Supplied: Steve Fuller.)

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