AHBIC Industry Update 66 – AHB Townsville & T2M 10 January 2025
10 January 2025Apis cerana Port of Townsville A port worker reported a suspicious swarm within the Port of Townsville, on 2 January Biosecurity Queensland euthanised the swarm. Subsequent testing has confirmed it […]
Apis cerana Port of Townsville
A port worker reported a suspicious swarm within the Port of Townsville, on 2 January Biosecurity Queensland euthanised the swarm.
Subsequent testing has confirmed it to be Asian honeybee (Apis cerana), free from varroa mites. Testing is ongoing to determine if the swarm is genetically related to the endemic population of Apis cerana from Cairns or if it represents a new introduction into Australia. We await origin and virus diagnostic outcomes and will provide further industry updates as they come to hand.
Australian Capital Territory(ACT) Revocation of Restrictions
ACT Government has revoked the Animal Diseases (Varroa Mite Import Restriction) Declaration 2023 (No 1) effective Friday 20 December 2024. This means that there are no longer movement restrictions on beekeeping operations to move from anywhere in the state of NSW into the ACT.
This follows after varroa mite was detected in hives located at Royalla, NSW, it has resulted in a decision to cease the import restriction as they are no longer considered necessary, nor effective to protect the ACT from the natural spread of varroa mite. For further information check the ACT Government update: https://www.act.gov.au/environment/animals-and-plants/animals/pest-animals/varroa-mite
Transition to Management
T2M Queen breeding workshops
AHBIC has an online meeting planned with queen bee industry representatives this month. It is expected these planning meetings will assist in decisions relating to the formulation of queen bee breeding with varroa, sector specific content, delivery locations and a process forward to carry out the activity mid-2025.
T2M National Virus Baseline
Several states have been receiving materials and consumables to commence the collection of bee samples for the national virus baseline project. Kick started already in QLD and VIC, we expect sample collections to begin in other states with the aim to have the field work completed by the March 2025 deadline.
The sampling being undertaken is to test for the following known honeybee virus’:
- Slow Bee Paralysis Virus (SBPPV H/R)
- Acute Bee Paralysis Virus (ABPV)
- Deformed Wing Virus (DWV A/B)
- Apis millifera rhabdovirus (AMR 1 &2)
- Black Queen Cell Virus (BQCV)
- Sacbrood Virus (SBV)
- Lake Sinai Virus (LSV)
- Israeli Acute Paralysis Virus (IAPV)
Further details of the project can be found here: https://www.varroa.org.au/baseline
Varroa Heat Maps
Extension of reported Varroa within NSW
Over the Christmas – New Year period several new positive varroa identifications were reported across NSW. Some of these new regional areas are the Pilliga, north of Dunedoo, east of Bathurst, Coleambally, Euabalong and Batemans Bay. These reports have come from beekeeper monitoring and surveillance.
Queensland and Victorian heat maps are live
Queensland Biosecurity dynamic heat showing rates of beekeeper and state led surveillance combined. In Queensland state biosecurity staff are conducting surveillance of sentinel hives strategically placed along areas close to the NSW border. All of the state led events so far have been free from varroa.
Victorian heat map had a false positive reported accidently by a beekeeper in the far north east of the state, this has been removed by Agriculture Victoria.
A reminder that varroa is a reportable pest in all states and territories, to take a look at the surveillance and monitoring by the industry see below for links to state mapping pages.
For those interested:
NSW: https://www.dpi.nsw.gov.au/emergencies/biosecurity/current-situation/varroa-mite-emergency-response
VIC: https://bees.agriculture.vic.gov.au/Public/Varroa
Maximum Residue Limits(MRLs)
Over recent weeks and months we have been gathering some details from domestic and international MRL testing laboratories and have summarised these on the AHBIC website.
Please follow this link to find out more on MRL testing: https://honeybee.org.au/industry-hub/maximum-residue-limits/
You can reach out to AHBIC via:
National Varroa Mite Coordinator
Bianca Giggins
0402 467 780
AHBIC, its employees, executive and consultants expressly disclaim all and any liability to any person in respect of anything, and the consequences of anything, done or omitted to be done in reliance, whether wholly, partly, upon the whole or any part of the contents of this industry update document.