New surveillance project to monitor honey bee pests
A new three-year National Bee Pest Surveillance Program (NBPSP) has been launched to check for pests that threaten the Australian honey bee industry.
First established in 2012 to deal with mounting biosecurity pressures, the NBPSP monitors major ports and surrounding areas.
The new program, which will run from December 2021 to December 2024, will be coordinated and administered by Plant Health Australia (PHA) on a national level, carrying out activities at ports identified to be at the highest risk of allowing entry to bee pests, diseases and pest bees.
Eleven exotic pests that could pose a significant threat to pollination services have been identified. Arguably the most important of these is Varroa mite, a parasitic mite present in Europe, North and South America, Africa, parts of Asia and New Zealand that has contributed to the collapse of honey bee industries in these regions.
Although Australia is free from Varroa and other significant honey bee pests, with strong border biosecurity in place, there is constant pressure on the biosecurity system to maintain this freedom. This is largely a result of the hitch-hiking nature of the European honey bee and exotic honey bee colonies on sea cargo.
Hort Innovation research and development manager Ashley Zamek says it is fortunate that a lot of the pests and diseases that are serious threats to honey bees and, in turn, the plant industries that are dependent on pollination, are not in Australia.
He adds, however, that is not because of luck.
“Australia’s largely healthy honey bee population is the result of intensive, world-leading surveillance efforts combined with the vigilance and support of organisations and government agencies across the country.”
PHA national manager surveillance and diagnostics Dr Sharyn Taylor says the new program will build on the success of its previous iterations, operating using a risk-based approach.
“A consistent national approach is key to enhance early detection of target pests and the project has embedded a strong coordination role to capture and monitor program activities, as well as undertaking consultation for a sustainable funding mechanism for any future surveillance programs,” she says.
“A risk-based approach has been developed to identify the highest risk ports for monitoring under the new NBPSP, this means activities tested and developed in the last program will be deployed nationally to ensure we are using techniques suitable for the main pest risks.
“This is such an important program that will benefit everyone whether you’re a backyard gardener, a commercial grower or someone who just loves eating Australian grown food – we all benefit from keeping our bees safe.”
The program is funded by Hort Innovation, the Australian Honey Bee Industry Council and Grain Producers Australia (GPA), in collaboration with state and territory governments.
Honey bees are critical for the production of many crops, pollinating around 65 per cent of agricultural and horticultural crops in Australia. Their contribution to the Australian economy through pollination services and products is estimated to be $14.3 billion per annum. The almond and grains industries both rely on honey bees for production, with the almond industry relying exclusively on honey bees for pollination.
“Access to healthy honey bees is critical for our industry in pollinating our crop each year. It is important we do whatever we can to protect our bees and the apiary businesses that support us from exotic pests and diseases,” Almond Board of Australia industry development manager Deidre Jaensch says.
GPA chair and Western Australian grain producer Barry Large says the surveillance program is essential to helping protect the profitability and sustainability of Australian grain producers.
“Bee pollination plays a vital part in our $13 billion industry; especially contributing to yield increases for grain producers who grow canola and lupin crops,” Large says.
“GPA is proud to support this initiative as part of our national role working with PHA, governments and other stakeholders to enhance the strength of our biosecurity systems and safeguard Australian grain producers.”