BY DAKOTA TAIT
A Central Coast beekeeper has gathered more than 25,000 signatures behind a petition to stop the State Government euthanising bees as part of the response to the Hunter's varroa mite outbreak.
The Department of Primary Industries remains confident it can eradicate the mite from New South Wales, by killing both infected and uninfected bee populations in red emergency zones.
But Jilliby beekeper Dolby Benesh, who had 51 hives on his property destroyed last week, argues the policy needs to be changed.
He says the current course is dealing "irreversible" damage.
"The bees could be treated," he said. "The science that we're using to do the eradication is outdated for many years, not updated, not effective, not current."
"Beekeepers are being pushed into a very tight corner where they've been forced to agree to kill their bees."
Australia was the only major honey-producing free from the pest until the detection at the Port of Newcastle in June.
No country has ever succeeded in containing the mite, but the Department of Primary Industries believes because the outbreak has been largely localised to the Hunter, it can be contained and eradicated.
"It's part of life," he said. "Every beekeeper around the world already learned how to deal with it, and they live with that, and there's no problem."
"It's not a massive issue. We have plenty of other, much bigger tasks in the beekeeping industry. We have the small hive beetle, which is much more vicious, much more damaging, much more harming than the varroa mite."
