Call for politicians to save the bees

Beekeeper Frank Lindsay, left, Green Party advisor Babs Lake and Green MP Sue Kedgley as the Green Party called the Government to protect New Zealand honeybees from pesticide today. Photo / NZPA

The buzz around Parliament today was about saving the bees.

Some real beehives were set up on Parliament's forecourt to publicise a Green Party launch of a petition calling on the Government to stop using pesticides harmful to bees.

National Bee Association co-chief executive Daniel Paul said more needed to be done to protect bees, which were vital to the agricultural economy. The honey/bee export industry was worth about $100 million a year but it had wider impact than that.

"One of the things that is often forgotten is the value of the bee industry is not just honey imports. I think there is $5.1 billion worth of bee pollination so if you think about the value of the bee industry as $5.1 billion to our GDP (gross domestic product) that's the kind of numbers you are talking about.

"If you do anything harmful to our bee populations you do tend to run a little bit of a risk around a whole lot of economic factors."

Green MP Sue Kedgley said loss of bee populations would have dire consequences.

"Our kiwifruit, our horticultural industries, they would be devastated if we started to suffer from the collapse of bee populations as has happened in particularly places like America and Germany and other countries."

She said the Government should suspend the use of neonicotinoid pesticides which have been linked to bee deaths until the Environmental Risk Management Authority (ERMA) reassessed them.

The pesticides attacked bees' central nervous systems.

Ms Kedgley said the Government needed a strategy to protect bees and the Greens also wanted a ban on importing honey and other bee products.

"We shouldn't be importing honey and other bee products from countries like Australia which harbour diseases which we don't have here in New Zealand... One of the things that is most devastating for bees like the varroa mite are these diseases, parasites, that are coming into New Zealand as a result of trade."

Mr Paul said it was more a biosecurity issue than trade concern for him.

Agriculture Minister David Carter said the Government recognised the importance of bees to the primary sector.

"But as there is currently no clear evidence of neonicotinoid pesticides causing significant bee deaths in New Zealand, the Government has no plans to suspend the use of them. To do so on bee health grounds would be premature and inappropriate," he said.

"There are well established, robust processes for reviewing the safety of pesticides (run by ERMA) and these should be followed. If ERMA finds any new credible evidence that certain pesticides present a more significant risk to bees than currently thought, then the conditions of their use will be reassessed."

Mr Carter said the Government worked with the industry on projects and recently MAF and the National Beekeepers Association signed a memorandum of understanding on their future working relationship.

- NZPA