By PHILIPPA STEVENSON agricultural editor
The bee-killing mites threatening New Zealand's horticultural trade have spread to Tokoroa.
The alarm was raised there by a Ministry of Agriculture team tracing the movement of bees, hives and equipment from the South Auckland properties where mites were first found. However, no final confirmation has been received.
Meanwhile, for Opotiki beekeepers Dick and Bertha Schoneveld relief outweighed "feeling a little foolish" after tests showed suspected bee-killers in their hives to be a different and harmless mite.
Experts said the mite they found was commonly mistaken for its killer cousin. The ministry is checking the rest of the Schonevelds' 60 hives, once sited in Auckland, because of the risk of infection.
A ministry exotic disease hotline (0800 809-966) has had hundreds of calls. Fifteen teams comprising 40 ministry staff and beekeeper volunteers have responded to more than a hundred alerts.
They have searched an ever-widening area between Rodney and the Waikato, trying to establish the boundaries of the incursion, which could cut beekeeping profits and hit crops such as kiwifruit and apples that rely on bee pollination.
Apistan miticide strips, cleared for emergency use by the Pesticides Board, are being used to detect and kill the Varroa mites. The miticide is not registered for use here, but may soon be an essential tool for all beekeepers who until now have been proud of their drug and pesticide-free industry.
Wild bee colonies, which will not be treated, are expected to die out.
Meanwhile, live bee exporter James Ward, of Kintail Honey in Takapau, had to unpack a $60,000 shipment of bees yesterday after the ministry said Canadian authorities had not cleared its importation.
The ban comes at the start of the trading season and Mr Ward had been told it would be at least Wednesday before Canada, which has varying levels of Varroa infection, decided whether New Zealand imports could begin again.
The six million bees would be released and after their confinement "we'll pour the nutrition into them to keep them healthy."
Mr Ward said he was encouraged that the mites at Opotiki had proven harmless. "Now we just have to find the boundaries [of the Varroa infestation]."
Exporter Russell Berry, of Arataki Honey, had not heard late yesterday whether his latest shipment, also to Canada, could go. But he thought he was likely to spend the weekend unpacking millions of bees and finding them temporary homes.
Bee-killing mites found at new site
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