{"id":303900,"date":"2021-08-11T16:33:48","date_gmt":"2021-08-11T06:33:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/southburnett.com.au\/news2\/?p=303900"},"modified":"2021-11-15T10:09:33","modified_gmt":"2021-11-15T00:09:33","slug":"varroa-mite-incursion-eradicated","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/southburnett.com.au\/news2\/2021\/08\/11\/varroa-mite-incursion-eradicated\/","title":{"rendered":"Varroa Mite Incursion Eradicated"},"content":{"rendered":"
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A Varroa mite parasite on the back of a honey bee (Photo: USDA-ARS\/Steve Ausmus)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

August 11, 2021<\/strong><\/p>\n

Australia has been declared officially free from the bee parasite, Varroa jacobsoni<\/em>, following its successful eradication from Townsville.<\/p>\n

Agriculture Minister David Littleproud thanked Queensland for leading the national response.<\/p>\n

\u201cVarroa jacobsoni<\/em> was detected in recently arrived feral Asian honey bee nests at the Port of Townsville in May 2019 and April 2020,\u201d Minister Littleproud said.<\/p>\n

\u201cVarroa jacobsoni<\/em> is related to Varroa destructor<\/em> which is responsible for a collapse in European honey bee colonies around the world.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhile not as destructive, Varroa jacobsoni<\/em> has the potential to jump from Asian honey bee to European honey bees and impact our industries that rely on bees.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cThe Australian, State and Territory governments, the Australian Honeybee Bee Industry Council, and affected pollination-reliant plant industries shared the cost of the response.<\/p>\n

\u201cThanks to the hard work of Queensland and collaboration between governments and industry, Australia remains one of the few countries in the world that remains free of both species of varroa mite.<\/p>\n

\u201cAustralia depends on everyone playing their part to protect our biosecurity and safeguard our vital agriculture industries and environment.\u201d<\/p>\n

Asian honey bee is established in Cairns region but this population does not not carry varroa mites.<\/p>\n

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