The NSW Government this week announced $31 million to support beekeepers, horticulture and cropping industries affected by the Varroa mite outbreak.
Minister Moriarty said Varroa mite will add an estimated $52 million per year in apiary management expenses. The impacts without intervention would be severe on both the wild European honey bee population as well as managed hives around Australia.
In the past year:
• 2,148 people have spent an estimated 452,569 hours on the response across 990,400 hectares of eradication (red) zones
• The NSW DPI has fielded more than 10,000 calls, and has held close to 100 community
• meetings and webinars;
• The Wild European Honey Bee Management Program has deployed 705 bait stations, 823 Fipronil applications, and has been monitoring samples of Wild European Honey Bees collected in Emergency Eradication Zones for Varroa mite of which 725 have returned negative results;
• The NSW DPI has sampled 40,726 managed hives across NSW;
• Beekeepers have sampled 91,626 hives throughout the state.
The NSW Government has already spent more than $33 million to control Varroa outbreaks, including $13.7 million in reimbursement to around 2,500 affected commercial and recreational beekeepers.
Minister Moriarty said an updated plan for the next three years of the response had been endorsed by the National Management Group, which includes representatives from all states, the Commonwealth and industry groups.