[Pollinator] Fwd: CATCH THE BUZZ - AIA Speaks Up

[Ladadams at aol.com]

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CATCH  THE BUZZ  
AIA  Speaks Up About American Beekeeping Issues 
At the recent  North American Bee Conference in Galveston, the Apiary 
Inspectors put their  collective heads together and came up with the resolutions 
here. I’ve removed  many of the therefore's and whereases and such to make 
it easier  reading…Now you know what these good folks are up to. I sat in on 
a good part  of their meeting and learned much.  
African  Honey Bees  
First:  The recent introduction of AHB into Georgia threatens a major honey 
bee  package and queen production industry in the United States, 
threatening the  confidence of that industry to meet the demand for gentle honey bee 
queens and  package bees for both commercial and small scale beekeepers.  
In order to  meet the demand for honey bee production, the Apiary 
Inspectors of America do  resolve:  
1. The United  States Department of Agriculture – Agricultural Research 
Service (USDA-ARS) or  USDA-APHIS PPQ identify and determine that the 
Africanized Honey bee  subspecies is a pest to European lines of honey bees 
traditionally managed  in the United States, and a threat to both human and animal 
health. AIA  members believe that such a declaration will allow states to take 
appropriate  steps to regulate the AHB subspecies as a pest.  
2. The  USDA-ARS shall develop AHB detection techniques to replace the 
cumbersome  USDA-ID identification tool. Among techniques to be recommended are 
the “Small  SNP Array” being developed by Dr. Jay Evans of USDA-ARS, and 
the  “Identification of Africanized Honey Bees through Wing Morphometrics” 
being  developed by Dr. David DeJong. Both of these techniques show promise to 
 provide accurate and time efficient determination where the identification 
of  AHB is needed.  
3. As the  USDA-ARS evaluates new techniques for AHB determination, the AIA 
agrees to  assist in the dissemination of training on these techniques to 
member states.   
Baseline  Survey  
Second:  The U.S. beekeeping industry is vulnerable to exotic pests and the 
USDA should  take stricter measures to prevent their introduction. But 
first, a baseline of  honey bee diseases, parasites and other pests of honey 
bees must be  established to adhere to international policy and trade 
agreements in order to  restrict movement of honey bees into the U.S.  
The Apiary  Inspectors urgently request USDA, both APHIS and ARS, to fund 
and continue to  implement surveys of honey bee colonies not only for 
Tropilaelaps  clareae, but for virus complexes, varroa species and their variants 
as  well as other organisms capable of adversely affecting honey bee health. 
Such  survey should continue to utilize current infrastructure among 
cooperating  state agencies to collect and prepare samples for USDA analysis. 
Assuming  state cooperation, AIA requests that adequate funding be approved for 
this  much needed baseline survey which began in 2009.  
Restricting  Imports  
Third:  The Apiary Inspectors of America (AIA) appreciates the action taken 
by  USDA-APHIS to close the United States border to further introduction of 
 honeybee queens and packages from Australia. Surveys conducted by 
USDA-APHIS  and AIA members show that the Apis cerana honey bee and Slow Paralysis  
Virus which has been reported in Australia do not occur in the US.  
At the same  time AIA would like to express concern that APHIS is giving 
consideration to  allowing honey bee importation from Argentina, Brazil and/or 
Chile.  
Imported  honeybees have been used to supplement domestic honey bees for 
almond  pollination in California. However, the market is relatively small 
while the  risk of introducing a new bee pathogen when most of the US bees are 
in  California could have widespread consequences.  With  US bee losses  of 
32-35% attributed to viruses and other pathogens it would be careless to  
introduce a new problem.  
AIA Wants:  1) USDA-APHIS PPQ  protect American agriculture by keeping our 
borders  closed to honey bee introductions until such time as science can 
identify the  impact of viruses and other pathogens to beekeeping. And, 2) 
That USDA-APHIS  PPQ enter into trade discussions with North American Plant 
Protection  Organization (NAPPO) members encouraging NAPPO to unilaterally 
protect North  American beekeeping from the risk of pathogen introduction into 
North America  – especially NAPPO members to agree to uniform arguments on 
acceptance of  queen bees and packages into NAPPO member states.   
____________________________________
  
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