Australia. Tasmania: abejas libres de enfermedades provocan impacto global

jueves 23 de octubre de 2014
theadvocate.com.au: disease-free bees make global impact

Amelia Cristina Tor Pisano

Tasmania: abejas libres de enfermedades provocan

impacto global
Los apicultores de Tasmania están aprovechando un nuevo mercado de exportación de abejas vivas a países donde las plagas han destruido las colmenas.

A principios de este año, los apicultores de Tasmania, incluyendo los productores de miel australianos de la localidad de Sheffield, enviaron 14 pallet de 9,8 toneladas de abejas vivas a Canadá.

La temporada en Tasmania termina en febrero antes de que comience la de Canadá y muchas de estas abejas exportadas habrían muerto de todas maneras. Este año cada pallet enviado contenía 500 paquetes de 1,4 kilos, cada uno con zánganos, obreras y una reina.

Actualmente, las poblaciones de abejas de América del Norte están afectadas por el ácaro Varroa, enfermedad que lleva a la muerte de toda la colmena. Por esta razón, Canadá y Estados Unidos son muy exigentes con la importación de abejas vivas, lo que beneficia a las poblaciones de abejas libres de plagas de Tasmania.

La presidenta de la Asociación de Apicultores de Tasmania, Lindsay Bourke, explicó que la bioseguridad es importante para mantener este nicho de mercado de exportación y aseveró que las exportaciones de abejas vivas aumentarán después del final de la próxima temporada. También indicó que cada año, cuando las estaciones cambian de verano a otoño, los colmenares deben deshacerse de sus zánganos, por lo que el nuevo mercado para abejas libres de Varroa es una decisión inteligente.

Este periodo del año es de gran actividad para los apicultores de Tasmania, con la reproducción de zánganos y el proceso de inicio de cría de las reinas.

Dado el clima en Tasmania, los apicultores tienen sólo dos meses para que las abejas recojan el polen. En cambio los productores del continente tienen un máximo de 10 meses y algunos lugares permanecen en flor durante casi todo el año.

Los apicultores de Tasmania pueden planificar de manera efectiva el período de mayor actividad. Bourke indicó: “Si lo hacemos correctamente podremos producir la mayor cantidad de miel en dos meses, mientras que en el continente va de 8 a 10 meses”.

Según Bourke, las exportaciones de abejas vivas de Tasmania estarían en problemas si la bioseguridad de todo el estrecho de Bass estuviese comprometida. Cada reina que entra a otro país está en cuarentena antes de su lanzamiento.

Fuente: theadvocate.com.au: disease-free bees make global impact

TASMANIAN beekeepers have tapped into a new market of live bee exports to countries where pests have destroyed hives.

Earlier this year Tasmanian beekeepers, including Australian Honey Products at Sheffield, sent 14 palettes of bees - 9.8 tonnes of live insects - to Canada.

Tasmania's season finished in February before Canada's season started, and many of the bees exported from Tasmania would have died anyway.

Each palette shipped this year had 500 1.4-kilogram packets, each with drones, workers and a queen.

North America's bee populations are currently affected by the varroa destructor mite, which carries the disease that kills entire hives.

Canada and the United States are picky about importing live bees, which benefits Tasmania's pest-free bee populations.

Biosecurity was important to maintaining the live export market, Tasmanian Beekeepers Association president Lindsay Bourke said.

Mr Bourke and wife Yeonsoon run their business, Australian Honey Products, at Sheffield.

They recently won the Export Finance and Insurance Corporation Small Business Award at the 2014 Tasmanian Export Awards.

The couple is not sure if the live bee exports helped with the latest award, but the business has won numerous awards for its various honey and hive products.

Live bee exports will increase after the end of the upcoming season, Mr Bourke said.

"The whole world needs bees," Mr Bourke said.

Each year as the seasons turn from summer to autumn, hives get rid of their male bees (drones).

Sometimes, the females bite the males' wings off and dumps them metres away.

Australian Honey Products' male bees would die anyway as Tasmania entered winter next year, so the new market for varroa mite-free bees was a smart move, Mr Bourke said.

It's a busy time of year for Tasmania's beekeepers, with drone breeding completed weeks ago and the process of breeding queens starting.

Soon they will take the queens to meet the males so new hives can start.

This week the Sheffield beekeepers were separating hives to breed queens.

Bees in the top part of hives could not see their queens, would panic, and produce new queens, Mr Bourke said.

Honey bee worker carrying a parasitic Varroa mite.THE AGE . news . SEPTEMBER 06, 2007 . image courtesy of ARS/USDA Scott Bauer . story by Chee Chee Leung .

"The bottom part of the hive (has a queen)," Mr Bourke said.

"We're making (the top half) think they don't have a queen any more."

When the new queens are nearly hatched, they will be put in new hives in time to meet the drones, which have already been hatched and have grown to a mature size.

Tasmania's climate means the state's beekeepers have a period of just two months for the bees to collect pollen.

Producers on the Mainland have up to 10 months, with some places in flower most of the year.

Tasmanian beekeepers can plan effectively for their busy period.

"If we do it correctly we'll produce as much honey (in two months) as they can on the Mainland in eight-to-10 months," Mr Bourke said.

Not having to deal with pests that plague the Mainland and other countries also helps.

The small hive beetle turns hives in Australia's eastern mainland states to slime, while the varroa mite has affected hives in other countries, including New Zealand.

Tasmania's exports of live bees would be in trouble if biosecurity across the Bass Strait was compromised, Mr Bourke said.

Hive beetles can survive in soil and if a shipping container arrived with dirt that contained hive beetles, the state could be at risk.

Mr Bourke said there was some wharf security and protections were stronger against diseased queen bees imported into Tasmania.

"Every queen that comes into the state is quarantined before it's released," Mr Bourke said.