Self-isolate P.E.I.’s bees
An open letter to P.E.I. Premier Dennis King concerning beehives from Ontario
The COVID-19 crisis has made us all aware that preventing an outbreak of an exotic disease is far easier than trying to respond once it is spreading.
Our Island bees are also facing a new threat, the small hive beetle parasite (SHB), but the Department of Agriculture seems set on a course that is very likely to bring it to P.E.I. rather than prevent it.
The COVID-19 crisis also highlights the need to be proactive, to support and protect Island industries, and to bolster local supply chains and food security.
Evidence, science and experience all show that P.E.I.’s border should be closed to the importation of potentially infected bees. In turn, Island bees and beekeepers should be supported to meet local pollination needs.
The 2020 Bee Importation Protocol does the opposite.
It does away with the area restrictions found in previous protocols that excluded bees from known SHB areas. In 2020, only 10 per cent of hives need to be inspected. This inadequate level of inspection can now be done after the bees are gathered together into holding yards for shipping, so there is no control over whether they are coming from infected yards, and SHB can spread within the holding yards. The inspections will be done by Ontario inspectors and there is no requirement this year to send Island inspectors. Ontario has given up on controlling the spread of SHB. New Brunswick, which was infected in 2017 by hives from Ontario, has also given up on controlling the spread. Nova Scotia, by contrast, locked down its border in 2017 and remains SHB free. Nova Scotia is now self-sufficient for its pollination needs with local hives. P.E.I. needs to follow suit.
The P.E.I. beekeepers are not involved in bringing the hives in. The hives are just rented from Ontario beekeepers by the blueberry farmers for pollination. Then they go back. They are brought in to the province by blueberry processors Wymans and Braggs (Oxford foods).
Premier Dennis King, you were asked about the importation of beehives at the leaders’ environmental debate before last year's election. The question was: “Will you would commit to full inspection of beehives imported from Ontario?” You said: “If it is an issue of having a professional there and funding then I would be happy to reinstate the funding.” Instead, the 2020 protocol requires no inspection by P.E.I. inspectors.
You also said: “You have a willing partner in government that wants to help you (beekeepers) succeed and if there is anything that you think we should be doing better and if you are giving us that feedback based on science, based on research, and based on experience then I think it is important to live up to that.”
The best science available comes from Italy where scientists have contained an incursion of SHB and prevented it from spreading to the rest of Europe. They have evidencebased data that quantifies the amount of testing and inspection necessary to declare with some assurance that an area is free of SHB and safe to import hives from. P.E.I.’s 2020 inspection requirement doesn’t even come close to what the science-based data indicates is necessary.
Research on SHB was provided by the tech-transfer experts at Perennia. It was funded by the Departments of Agriculture of P.E.I., Nova Scotia and New Brunswick and also by the blueberry producers and the beekeeping associations of all three provinces. They said, “The most considerable damage performed by SHB occurs during the larval stage. Larvae consume virtually every edible substance in the hive except for the wooden hive-ware itself. A large infestation of SHB will cause significant damage to brood, comb, pollen and honey. Entire seasons’ worth of honey in extraction lines can be spoiled and valuable frames of empty wax comb can be lost if indoor storage facilities are infested.”
The experience is also clear. In 2017 hives were imported into New Brunswick with almost exactly the same protocol that P.E.I. is proposing to use this year. That inspection protocol failed to detect SHB in hives prior to importation. As a result, hives belonging to New Brunswick beekeepers were infected with SHB.
My feedback for you, Mr. Premier, is that I believe you can do better to protect our bees from being infected by an invasive parasite. As with COVID-19, the best way to do that is to close our border, like Nova Scotia. If beehives are as important to blueberries as the growers and processors say and you close the border and let everyone know that you are committed to protecting Island bees, then growers and processors will begin working with Island beekeepers to find long-term sustainable solutions. It is as simple as that.
This would be a good year to close our border. The forecast is not good for a strong price for blueberries. Growers probably shouldn’t put large inputs into pollination. Island beekeepers are reporting excellent overwintering. If Island beekeepers know that they are going to be protected, and if blueberry growers/processors and government are giving them the help they need, they can expand quickly. But this needs to start now.
When you appointed your ministers, Mr. Premier, you charged them to be bold and innovative. But the Department of Agriculture seems not to have heard you yet. Now is your chance.