Bee Colonies Drop Another 29%
Susan Salisbury
related: One Third of US Food Supply at Stake
Another Bad Year for Bees
U.S. Honeybees Remain in Peril
Following Honeybee Disappearance, Bumblebees Begin Vanishing
May 19, 2009
By Susan Salisbury
Palm Beach Post
Honeybee losses nationwide continue at a level that is economically unsustainable for commercial beekeeping, according to a 2008-09 survey released Tuesday.
The survey, which encompassed 20% of the nation's roughly 2.3 million honeybee colonies, found a 29% loss of managed bee colonies. This compares with losses of 36% and 32% in the winters of 2007-08 and 2006-07, respectively. The Apiary Inspectors of America and the U.S. Department of Agriculture Bee Research Lab in Beltsville, Md., conducted the survey from September 2008 to April.
"If you are a small businessperson in any activity, how long can you sustain 29% losses or greater each year?" said Jerry Hayes, assistant chief of the Florida Department of Agriculture's Bureau of Plant and Apiary Inspection in Gainesville.
While total losses decreased slightly, the average operational loss increased to 34% in 2008-09 from 31% a year ago.
Hayes prepared the survey's preliminary results along with entomologists Dennis vanEngelsdorp, of Pennsylvania's Department of Agriculture and president of the AIA, and the USDA's Jeff Pettis.
A more detailed report will be published this year.
Experts blamed Colony Collapse Disorder, the malady characterized by the complete absence of bees in dead colonies that has been decimating the U.S. beekeeping industry in recent years, for some of the losses. The cause of the disorder is still unknown, but about 26% of apiaries surveyed reported that some of their colonies died of the collapse disorder - down from 36% of apiaries in 2007-08.
Other causes include premature queen death, starvation, cold, pests such as the varroa mite and pesticides, Hayes said.
Dave Hackenberg, a beekeeper who winters his bees in Florida, criticized the survey for not asking the right question. He said his hive numbers dropped from 3,500 in October 2008 to 2,800 this January, within the time period of the survey. But by February, he had lost 300 more hives.
"It's spring, but the hives aren't growing. I'm finding them blown out, dead or gone," Hackenberg said from Maine Tuesday.
Hayes added: "There have been beekeepers out there who have taken another phenomenal loss this year. Honeybees simply are not healthy."
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