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<h1><b>The Daily Green<br><br>
<br>
4/14/2008<br><br>
<br>
Survey: Beekeepers Lost 35% of Bees This Winter</b></h1>Bumblebees Also
Hurting ... And Where's That Government Aid?<br><br>
There was a Senate Briefing last week, called by Senators Boxer (D-CA),
Casey (D-PA) and Collins (R-ME) on the decline of honey bees and native
pollinators and the threat posed to agriculture. Speaking at the briefing
besides the senators were:
<ul>
<li>May Berenbaum, Chair of the National Academy of Science Committee on
the Status Of North American Pollinators;
<li>Jeff Pettis from the USDA;
<li>Zac Browning, President of the American Beekeeping Federation and a
commercial beekeeper;
<li>Richard Adee, Legislative Committee Chair of the American Honey
Producers and a commercial beekeeper;
<li>Doug Holy, invasive species specialist, NRCS;
<li>Mace Vaughan from the Xerces Society, and
<li>Tom Van Arsdall, representing the Pollinator Partnership.
</ul><br>
The purpose was to explore why the $20 million from Agriculture
Appropriations requested months ago by the Senators has not yet been
found and to discover what new developments have come about in the
ongoing research on Colony Collapse Disorder since the last hearing
several months ago.<br><br>
On the research front not much has happened it seems. This is because
most research projects are at a standstill due to
<a href="http://www.thedailygreen.com/environmental-news/blogs/bees/red-tape-55022202">
lack of funding</a>, or, as in the case of the
<a href="http://www.thedailygreen.com/environmental-news/latest/3860">
5-year USDA plan</a> are just getting underway and haven’t produced
results yet. Some projects have been submitted to funding agencies within
USDA and they are waiting for word on their progress. These, however,
won’t see the light of day until fall, and any results for at least a
year and probably three before it’s all over.<br><br>
One report given described a dramatic decline in the bumblebee population
in the past year, but not sure if CCD was involved. One beekeeper used
the word brutalized ... an apt description concerning what came next.
<br><br>
<h2><b>The Growing Toll of Colony Collapse Disorder</b></h2>The Apiary
Inspectors Of America
(<a href="http://www.apiaryinspectors.org/">AIA</a>), the state-level
regulators in the world of bees and beekeeping, commissioned a survey of
colony losses this past winter. It is the best count of what’s happened
so far this year since it's the only count of what’s happened so far this
year (recall that lack of funding just mentioned).<br><br>
The AIA talked to beekeepers who have under their control about 18% of
the nations 2.44 million colonies (about a half million colonies). These
are commercial beekeepers who are for the most part migratory
pollinators, but not all are migratory and only make honey and some
migrate but don’t pollinate, though the majority move bees, make honey
and pollinate several crops during a season simply because to be a
commercial beekeeper you need to do it all to stay in business. What they
found is not good news.<br><br>
Overall these beekeepers suffered a 35.2% loss over winter. This
represents a 10% increase compared to last year. Each of the 327
beekeepers (about a third of all commercial beekeepers in the U.S.), lost
on average 31.4% of their bees.<br><br>
Not all losses were due to Colony Collapse Disorder, certainly. In fact
only about 29% of all the bees that died last winter died from CCD
symptoms. But if your bees died of those symptoms you would lose, on
average about 44% of your bees. If they died of, say starvation, you
would lose only about 17% ... which is right about what most beekeepers
lose every winter, anyway. CCD, then, just about triples winter losses
for beekeepers.<br><br>
So CCD hasn’t gone away and, in fact, it is getting worse. Moreover,
although Senator Boxer and her colleagues feel confident that "the
$20 million will be", as Senator Casey told a friend and reporter,
"put up by the Senate, at least," there are no guarantees what
will happen in the House. So no new money has been allocated from anybody
anywhere, and new research is still on hold or only getting started.
<br><br>
The one thing this survey wasn’t able to capture was the extent of colony
losses in only the past few weeks due to the abnormally late spring snow
storms in the Midwest. Heavy colony losses are only just now being
reported, (but not confirmed) in that region because beekeepers simply
have not had weather that would permit examinations. These would be the
beekeepers that do not migrate to California for the almond bloom, and
even though they probably have already inspected their colonies once or
twice, these late storms have cut off the bees' food supply and the
beekeepers can’t get back to help. Normally examinations would be
complete and the bees building rapidly for the first early honey flows in
May. Not this year. One wonders how much additional weight this will add
to the numbers of colony losses this year. We’ll know soon
enough.<br><br>
This is, if you are someone who keeps bees or
<a href="http://www.thedailygreen.com/environmental-news/blogs/shapley/Bees-47103070">
likes to eat</a>, one of those bad news, bad news, bad news
messages.<br><br>
<b>Find this article at:
</b>
<a href="http://www.thedailygreen.com/environmental-news/blogs/bees/colony-collapse-disorder-55041401">
http://www.thedailygreen.com/environmental-news/blogs/bees/colony-collapse-disorder-55041401</a>
<br><br>
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<x-sigsep><p></x-sigsep>
*************************<br>
Scott Hoffman Black<br>
Ecologist/Entomologist<br>
Executive Director<br>
The Xerces Society for Invertebrate Conservation<br>
4828 SE Hawthorne <br>
Portland, OR 97215 <br>
Direct line (503) 449-3792<br>
sblack@xerces.org<br><br>
<i>The Xerces Society is an international, nonprofit organization that
protects wildlife through the conservation of invertebrates and their
habitat. <br>
</i> <br>
To join the Society, make a contribution, or read about our work, <br>
please visit
<a href="http://www.xerces.org/">www.xerces.org</a>.<br><br>
<br>
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