27 April 2000

Canada approves live bee trade

The Canadian Food Inspection Agency has approved in principle the resumption of the importation of New Zealand honeybees. The Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry welcomes this approval and says that a realistic aim is to have an operational resumption of trade within 2-3 days.

MAF says that permits would have to be re-issued to meet Canadian requirements, which include certification that bees being exported do not originate from hives infested with the varroa mite. MAF will contact people with a Canadian import permit over the next day or so to ensure they are aware of the revised conditions to be met for the resumption of this trade.

Six new varroa-infected places have been identified - all within the original infected zone - but the numbers of beekeepers having infected properties remains 28. MAF programme co-ordinator Dr Mathew Stone reports that the total of infected places stands at 70.

37 teams are in the field today, with much of the work concentrated on the Southern North Island from satellite centres in New Plymouth, Palmerston North, Napier, and Gisborne/Wairoa. Dr Stone says that the varroa detection programme is moving to a phase where zones for control options are being identified. He expects surveys should be substantially completed by this weekend, and that movement control provisions for the North Island will be reviewed within the next few days.

The telephone survey of all 1300 South Island registered beekeepers to establish if there have been any other high-risk movements from the infected areas of the North Island should be completed by this evening.