18 May 2000

No new varroa infections, but many hive registrations

No new varroa infections have been discovered in the last day. The total number of Infected Places remains 266 apiaries, owned by 122 beekeepers, after visiting 1,961 apiaries housing 37,136 hives and following 1,887 traces.

Since the varroa response began five weeks ago, 228 new beekeepers have been registered, who have 927 sites with 12,515 hives. MAF programme co-ordinator Matthew Stone is welcoming the surge in registrations.

"The varroa campaign has clearly demonstrated the benefits derived from New Zealand's system of beekeeper registration. The ability to contact individual beekeepers, map and locate registered apiary sites, and know how many hives to expect on those sites provides an enormous advantage for an exercise such as this. Early on we identified the risks associated with unregistered hives, and these have been borne out in some instances." said Dr Stone.

"MAF and the National Beekeepers Association encourage all beekeepers to register their hives. There is every reason to do so in the interests of their individual enterprises and the industry as a whole, and there is nothing to fear through registering now."