Neil Reimer, head of the state Department of Agriculture\u2019s Plant Pest Control Branch, is confident that his staff\u2019s emergency efforts over the past few months have halted the spread of Varroa destructor,<\/i> a parasitic bee mite, on the island of Hawai`i, which is the heart of the state\u2019s diversified agriculture, organic honey, and queen bee rearing industries. But the fight to contain the pests is far from over. With Governor Linda Lingle\u2019s recent orders that all state departments cut their budgets next year by 28 percent, he worries about his branch\u2019s ability to contain the mites, which have already devastated O`ahu\u2019s apiaries.<\/p>\n
\tThe state\u2019s ramped-up monitoring and control measures in Hilo, which have tapped quarantine inspectors from all major islands, have all but wiped out the branch\u2019s annual budget of $50,000 to control all invasive species statewide. Although the state Legislature appropriated $650,000 this year for varroa control, most of that money has gone to University of Hawai`i researchers to develop a baiting system.<\/p>\n
\u201cWithin the first two and a half weeks [following the discovery of the mite in Hilo], we spent $45,000. We\u2019re probably out of money,\u201d Reimer says, adding that the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the Big Island\u2019s beekeeping industry have pitched in as well. \u201cWe\u2019ve never had enough money to set aside for a rapid response program,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n
In addition to the bleak financial picture, Reimer says he is concerned about the mite escaping urban Hilo. Bee swarm traps placed in and around the large forest adjacent to the Hilo airport have so far not yielded any mites, but should the mites gain a foothold there, controlling them would be a nightmare, since there are few access roads and potential impacts to native fauna could hinder the use of the pesticide bait traps.<\/p>\n
To add to Reimer\u2019s woes, there is evidence that the experimental poison being used in Hilo\u2019s baited traps may actually be a bee repellent. Without bees taking the bait, the likelihood that the mites will migrate into the forest is all the greater.<\/p>\n
Escape from O`ahu<\/b><\/i><\/p>\n
After Manoa beekeeper Michael Kliks first discovered the mite in his hives in April 2007, the DOA surveyed dozens of hives throughout O`ahu and determined that the mite\u2019s wide distribution suggested it had most likely been on the island for at least a year. Despite calls by Kliks and others to eradicate the mites by killing all wild and managed honeybees on the island, the DOA chose instead to focus on trying to control mite populations on O`ahu and prevent their spread to the outer islands.
\n\tInitially, the DOA proposed paying O`ahu beekeepers to destroy their hives to knock down bee populations. While the Legislature appropriated $650,000 to assist this effort, the buyouts never happened.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe had a lot of meetings,\u201d Reimer says, adding that while Big Island beekeepers estimated that a single beehive was worth about $250, \u201cO`ahu guys wanted $1,000 a hive.\u201d Reimer also says that some beekeepers were splitting their hives in hopes of getting more money. Instead of compensating beekeepers, the DOA used the money on other mite control efforts, including a $450,000 contract with University of Hawai`i to develop a baiting system.<\/p>\n
The DOA set up swarm traps near ports of entry on all islands, tried to kill all bees around O`ahu\u2019s ports, and restricted the movement of bees and beekeeping equipment between islands. Despite these efforts, the mites showed up on August 22 in a swarm trap near the Hilo Seaside Hotel, on the road between Hilo\u2019s harbor and its airport. Reimer says it is likely the mites arrived via a single bee on an airplane or boat.<\/p>\n
At the time of the discovery, Reimer had only two people on Hawai`i island doing invasive species control and monitoring swarm traps every two weeks for varroa mites and other pests like tracheal mites and Africanized bees. After the mites showed up, \u201cWe went into an instant command system, which is used in disaster situations like hurricanes and forest fires,\u201d Reimer says.<\/p>\n
Under this new organizational structure, the department appointed DOA entomologist Patrick Conant, based in Hilo, as instant commander and began flying in plant quarantine inspectors from O`ahu, Maui and Kaua`i to help erect 150 to 200 more swarm traps throughout the area. Beekeepers within a 15-mile zone agreed not to move any bees or equipment, and inspectors eliminated more than 100 hives, about 76 of which were feral.<\/p>\n
In each of the managed hives, staff \u201csacrificed\u201d about 500 bees, which would be shaken in a jar with alcohol or soapy water and put through a filtering system to separate out any mites. Feral hives were much more difficult to sample and required the use of converted leaf blowers to suck out 1,000 or so bees from those hives, Reimer says. Of the hives located, mites were found at five sites in low densities, which is good, Reimer says, as it suggests that the DOA caught the infestation early.<\/p>\n
With permission from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the DOA has randomly placed bait stations throughout Hilo containing the pesticide chlorpyrifos, diluted in honey, as well as a fluorescent dye to track bees that have taken the bait. Beekeepers who find fluorescent bees in their apiaries have agreed not to sell honey from those combs.<\/p>\n
The bait stations have been set within a half a mile radius of each swarm trap, Reimer says, adding that when foraging in a desert situation where there are few food sources, bees are known to travel up to five miles.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe wanted to get into poison baiting all along,\u201d Reimer says, but research takes time and the mite escaped to Hawai`i before the UH team could complete its work. Now, he says, the DOA and UH are doing their own \u201cseat of the pants research\u201d in Hilo.<\/p>\n
Broader Impacts<\/b><\/i><\/p>\n
Shortly after the mites were discovered on O`ahu, Reimer projected in a commentary for the Honolulu Advertiser that the value of local, bee-dependent crops such as cucumbers, watermelon, and squash could drop from about $126 million a year to about $42 million if the mite were to become widespread. The state\u2019s $1 million honey and beeswax industries and the even larger queen-production industry in Kona would also be devastated, he wrote, adding that backyard fruit trees, such as mango, avocado, lychee and other garden plants would produce less fruit as well.<\/p>\n
\tAccording to Kliks, who is also president of the Hawai`i Beekeepers\u2019 Association, honey production on O`ahu has already tanked as the island\u2019s managed hives have dropped from about 1,000 to about 150. Since the mite\u2019s arrival, Kliks\u2019s own hives have gone from 300 two-and-a-half years ago to about 60. Despite his personal losses, Kliks is most worried about the mites\u2019 impacts on diversified agriculture.<\/p>\n
\u201cPollination is the real problem. Honey is manini,\u201d he says. Bee-dependent commercial crops and backyard and community gardens make up between 7 and 8 percent of the state\u2019s food supply, he says, adding that, \u201cwhen the perfect storm hits\u2026we\u2019re going to find ourselves quarantined and there will be no food to help us.\u201d<\/p>\n
Although the mite has been on O`ahu for a few years, no studies have been done on the effects it has had on total honeybee populations or on pollination, although Kliks has noticed that all of the wild sentinel hives he tracks have disappeared. Such studies \u201cwould be nice,\u201d Reimer says, \u201cbut we don\u2019t have the resources.\u201d There is, however, a UH contract to study bees that survive the mites, he adds.<\/p>\n
Alan Takemoto, executive director of the Hawai`i Farm Bureau Federation, says he hasn\u2019t received any information on reduced crop yields on O`ahu, but adds \u201cthat\u2019s not to say it\u2019s not happening\u2026.It\u2019s going to take a toll over several years and farmers are looking at alternative ways to increase honeybee production. It\u2019s a huge issue.\u201d<\/p>\n
Kliks says that growers have been coming to him for bees. \u201cI\u2019m getting a few calls to pollinate. I\u2019m getting committed,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n
While the mite has the potential to cause the loss of tens of millions of dollars in crop losses and damage to bee-related enterprises, Reimer says it is unlikely that a depressed honeybee population will have any effect on native ecosystems, since other pollinators, including a native bee, exist.<\/p>\n
Future Control<\/b><\/i><\/p>\n
While the state kicked its control efforts into high gear following the discovery of mites in Hilo, critics, including Kliks, say the mite problem should never have gotten that far and argue for more aggressive measures to protect pollination-dependent agriculture, as well as those businesses that depend directly on honeybees. Kliks continues to maintain that all honeybees on O`ahu should be killed.<\/p>\n
\tWhether the state is financially capable or politically willing to pursue that is doubtful.<\/p>\n
In a September commentary for the Honolulu Star-Bulletin,<\/i> Department of Agriculture director Sandra Lee Kunimoto wrote, \u201cSome people felt the state should have attempted eradication on O`ahu, despite the exorbitant cost and the improbability of success. A beekeeper [Kliks], who has not killed his own infested bee populations, proposed that National Guard troops be deployed to the mountains and valleys to kill feral bees \u2013 an unrealistic proposal and inefficient, improper use of our National Guard. To attempt to locate and kill every wild bee population on O`ahu would be futile and would not guarantee eradication. In the meantime, agriculture on O`ahu would be devastated without these pollinators. Such an effort also would hurt other native and beneficial insects.\u201d<\/p>\n
\tEchoing some of Kunimoto\u2019s concerns, Reimer says that an effort to kill all honeybees on O`ahu would be devastating to the environment and, in any event, such a program would need to go through the state\u2019s environmental review process. What\u2019s more, a December 2007 DOA report on the mite states, \u201cThere are no tools or techniques available for the removal of thousands of feral bee hives in the Ko`olau and Wai`anae mountains that would not also have a catastrophic impact on native insects and other biota.\u201d<\/p>\n
In response to Kunimoto\u2019s apparent personal attack, Kliks says, \u201cHad the governor or state come up with a plan with a date certain [to launch a honeybee eradication program on O`ahu], I would have been one of the first guys to kill them.\u201d And despite the obstacles raised by the DOA, Kliks believes eradication is still possible.<\/p>\n
\t\u201cThe obvious chemical is fipronil and on day zero, you set up tracking stations with honey and wait until you get 1,000 bees per hour visiting traps set at five mile intervals. With a small island like O`ahu, you only need about ten of these stations. They don\u2019t have to be in remote areas; they can be along roads, in town, anywhere, all over. When you get that number of visitors you lace it with a tiny amount of fipronil\u2026It\u2019s widely used. I\u2019d be willing to bet you have it in your hair and skin. It\u2019s used for flea control of cats. [It is also an agricultural pesticide.] To raise the argument that it would be dangerous to release to kill honeybees is scientific absurdity,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n
\tRegarding concerns about impacts of an eradication program on non-target insects, Kliks says that research by Mark Goodwin of New Zealand shows that fipronil killed all honeybees within five to seven miles of bait stations and although non-target insects were harmed, their number was \u201cso small, it\u2019s not relevant. The main area of concern would be [the native bee] Hylaeus, but they don\u2019t visit honey.\u201d<\/p>\n
\tWhether or not fipronil would harm native and beneficial insects, UH researcher Mark Wright, who is leading efforts to develop a bait system, says, \u201cIt\u2019s a pipe dream to destroy everything on O`ahu. We don\u2019t have a way to do it.\u201d<\/p>\n
\tWhile he says the impacts on indigenous forest insects are questionable, Wright notes that fipronil\u2019s manufacturer, BASF, has refused requests for permission to use the poison to kill bees, since, \u201cit would be a bad reputation for an agricultural pesticide to have.\u201d Kliks and Wright both say that there are ways around BASF\u2019s reluctance. Wright says that there doesn\u2019t seem to be the political will in Hawai`i to pursue them.<\/p>\n
\tKliks puts it more bluntly: The DOA would need exemptions from the FDA and the EPA to use fipronil without BASF\u2019s permission, which, Kliks says, are given all the time. \u201c[Seed company] Pioneer Hi-bred gets them like they\u2019re toilet paper,\u201d he says, but the hesitance to get the exemptions to control varroa lies in \u201cthe difference between a $5 million industry and a $5 billion dollar industry\u2026.Basically, the state is refusing to use fipronil because BASF refuses to give them license to do so. What\u2019s the problem? If BASF will not give it to them, screw them. We have a food security issue in Hawai`i.\u201d<\/p>\n
\tWith fipronil off-limits and chlorpyrifos turning out to be a bee repellant, Wright says his team is looking at other poisons, including boric acid, that might keep the bees coming to the bait stations and will act slowly enough to ensure they will bring the poison back to their hives. While the baiting research continues, Reimer says the DOA will start deploying bait stations in Kona, since it is the seat of the island\u2019s beekeeping industry, and will continue working to eliminate hives around O`ahu ports.<\/p>\n
With regard to future funding, Kliks says the DOA should demand more. \u201cCutting the budget is not acceptable,\u201d he says. If more state funds don\u2019t come through, Kliks says, \u201cWe have federal funds lined up for this\u2026in the 2008 farm bill, a lot of money for pollinator stuff.\u201d Also, a July press release from Sen. Daniel Inouye states that the Senate Appropriations Committee approved $500,000 to \u201c1) suppress the varroa mite on O`ahu; 2) trap honey bees at ports to prevent the spread of mite infested honey bees to neighboring islands; 3) monitor for early infestation of varroa mites on neighboring islands; 4) develop an eradication program should varroa mites be detected on the Neighbor Islands; and 5) establish a packaged bee program to replace infested and collapsed bee hives on O`ahu.\u201d<\/p>\n
— Teresa Dawson<\/p>\n
Volume 19, Number 5 November 2008<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Neil Reimer, head of the state Department of Agriculture’s Plant Pest Control Branch, is confident that his staff’s emergency efforts over the past few months have halted the spread of Varroa destructor, a parasitic bee mite, on the island of … Continued<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[158],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1299","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-november-2008"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/environment-hawaii.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1299","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/environment-hawaii.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/environment-hawaii.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/environment-hawaii.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/environment-hawaii.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1299"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/environment-hawaii.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1299\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/environment-hawaii.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1299"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/environment-hawaii.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1299"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/environment-hawaii.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1299"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}