Hello,
I've been trying to look for some articles about the meeting but they seem to be a bit light on. This is not a bad one
http://www.crikey.com.au/2011/03/02/bee-invasion-flying-asian-cane-toad-a-6-billion-threat/But still, I think at the moment there should be a distinction between apis cerana and varroa. Varroa will devastate the food industry, but I wonder how much harm the bee by itself will be. I am assuming that the mellifera numbers in the solomons were depleted by varroa, and not so much by apis cerana?
It's great to hear from you, Ozbee. At last there's someone who knows where North Queensland is!
I'm not exactly sure what you are meaning by quarantine...are you saying that beekeepers in Mareeba are moving their hives to other areas?
I don't understand how preventing movements of bees will slow spread of apis cerana. And I don't think it would stop varroa either.
Native bees are great at pollinating native plants, but Woolies doesn't sell a lot of rainforest figs. Imported foods seem to require imported bees. Maybe the asian bees will pollinate the chinee apples ;) I wonder what exactly the greenies eat.
Ozbuzz, you can find email address and contact details here for your or other MPs
http://www.aph.gov.au/house/feedback.htm Maybe some of those pollies are wondering why they were given honey last week. Yes, let's keep informed about this and if we are going to help nip it in the bud it is getting to be urgent.
I haven't managed to catch up with Bob. I've been busy, but hopefully I can alert him to some of the issues before the funding is stopped.
Lone