[Pollinator] Groups Seek Regulation of Bumblebee Shipments

[Scott Black]

Can you please post this to the list serve.

Thanks!
[]

January 12, 2010



Groups Seek Regulation of Bumblebee Shipments

By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

Filed at 7:03 p.m. ET

http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2010/01/12/us/AP-US-Plight-of-Bumblebee.html

GRANTS PASS, Ore. (AP) -- Conservation groups and scientists want 
federal agricultural authorities to start regulating shipments of 
commercially domesticated 
<http://topics.nytimes.com/top/news/science/topics/bees/index.html?inline=nyt-classifier>bumblebees 
-- used to pollinate crops -- to protect wild bumblebees from 
diseases threatening their survival.

The groups said Tuesday that four species of bumblebees once common 
in the United States have seen drastic declines -- and the evidence 
points to diseases spreading out of greenhouses that use domesticated 
bumblebees.

''This is the tip of the iceberg,'' said Scott Hoffman Black, 
executive director of the Xerces Society, an insect conservation 
group based in Portland. ''Bumblebees need to be regulated or we may 
see other diseases spread to bumblebees and potentially other bees.''

Besides pollinating wild plants, bumblebees are responsible for 
pollinating about 15 percent of all the crops grown in the U.S., 
worth $3 billion. Demand has been growing as supplies of honeybees 
decline, especially for hothouse crops such as tomatoes, peppers and 
strawberries, and field crops such as blueberries, cranberries, 
raspberries, squash and watermelon.

Federal regulation is needed because while some states, like Oregon, 
prohibit importation of bumblebees, others, such as Washington and 
California, allow it, Black said.

Two European companies produce commercial bumblebee hives sold in the 
US: Koppert Biological Systems Inc., of the Netherlands, and Biobest 
Biological Systems of Belgium. Telephone calls to Koppert's office in 
Canada and Biobest's office in Michigan were not immediately returned.

The Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service was reviewing the 
petition and had no immediate response, spokesman Larry Hawkins said 
in an e-mail.

The Xerces Society, 
<http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/organizations/n/natural_resources_defense_council/index.html?inline=nyt-org>Natural 
Resources Defense Council, Defenders of Wildlife and 
<http://topics.nytimes.com/topics/reference/timestopics/organizations/u/university_of_california/index.html?inline=nyt-org>University 
of California, Davis entomologist Robbin Thorp formally petitioned 
the 
<http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/organizations/a/agriculture_department/index.html?inline=nyt-org>U.S. 
Department of Agriculture and its Animal and Plant Health Inspection 
service. They want to prohibit shipping commercially domesticated 
bumblebees and hives outside their native range, and to certify that 
domesticated bumblebees are disease free.

The petition cited steep declines in recent years of the Franklin's 
and Western bumblebee in the West, and the rusty-patched and 
yellow-banded bumblebee in the East.

Nine prominent entomologists signed a letter in support of the petition.

''A major threat to the survival of these wild bumblebee pollinators 
is the spread of disease from commercially produced bees that are 
transported throughout the country,'' said the letter, signed by 
<http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/organizations/u/university_of_kansas/index.html?inline=nyt-org>University 
of Kansas entomologist Charles Michener and others.

Black said they wanted to work with federal authorities to control 
the spread of disease before taking the next step, seeking Endangered 
Species Act protection for the bumblebees.

While research has yet to conclusively blame a specific disease 
shared with domesticated species, the petition cited studies showing 
domesticated bumblebees regularly escape greenhouses and one bee can 
infect another when they come in contact gathering pollen.

Unlike honeybees, which came to North America with the European 
colonists of the 17th century, bumblebees are natives. They collect 
pollen and nectar to feed to their young but make very little honey.

A 2007 
<http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/organizations/n/national_academy_of_sciences/index.html?inline=nyt-org>National 
Academy of Sciences report blamed the decline of pollinators around 
the world on a combination of habitat loss, pesticides, pollution and 
diseases spilling out of greenhouses using commercial bumblebee hives.



*************************
Scott Hoffman Black
Ecologist/Entomologist
Executive Director
The Xerces Society for Invertebrate Conservation
4828 SE Hawthorne
Portland, OR 97215
Direct line (503) 449-3792
sblack at xerces.org

The Xerces Society is an international, nonprofit organization that 
protects wildlife through the conservation of invertebrates and their habitat.

To join the Society, make a contribution, or read about our work,
please visit <http://www.xerces.org/>www.xerces.org.


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