FIVE new Varroa mite detections in the past month has many in the bee industry questioning if the roll out of wild hive baiting has happened too late.
New detections at Cessnock, Lochinvar, Tumbi Umbi, Mulbring and the latest one at Vacy bring the total number of infected premises to 107 since the first Varroa mite detection at the Port of Newcastle on June 22.
More than 18,500 hives have already been euthanised since the first detection which equates to more than 370,000,000 bees, and a huge impact on the bee industry.
The new eradication zones will mean more hives euthanised, with around 650 expected at Cessnock and Lochinvar alone.
NSW Apiarist Association president Steve Fuller believes feral bees are integral to containing the spread of the mite now and that wild hive baiting should have begun much earlier.
"It has been going for a while around Jerrys Plains but only began a little more than a month ago in other areas," he said.
"It won't be as effective now because there is a lot of flowering at the moment and the feral bees prefer natural food over the Fipronil baiting stations.
"For baiting to be at its most effective, you need a shortage of food in the area.
"With the wet weather, there is a surplus of food and the bees won't be interested in the bait.
"It should have started no later than August and will now drag on."
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NSW agriculture minister Dugald Saunders visited a baiting station at the Central Coast last weekend and said they were having an impact.
"I visited a baiting station near Somersby and the people there showed me how it was working.
"While I have a lot of respect for Mr Fuller, who has years of experience in beekeeping, we have a team of leading entomologists who are making sure the program is as effective as possible.
"We knew when Varroa was first detected in NSW that it was going to be a long road ahead.
"The Fipronil baiting stations will be used for 12 months in each area and then we will evaluate if they need to continue.
"The stations use Fipronil for 30 days, then sugar syrup and then back to Fipronil.
"We will continue this program for as long as it needs to."
Mr Fuller said while the surveillance and eradication had done a good job at curbing the spread of Varroa, believes the bee industry may not survive waiting out the mite.
"We already have beekeepers selling up and leaving the industry," he said.
"What good is waiting out Varroa if there is no industry left to save?
"You can outlast Varroa if you have money and time. The industry has neither.
"We're supposed to be getting bees ready for next year and we don't even know when we can move them."
Mr Saunders said there was a dedicated team continuing to work on getting NSW Varroa free.
"We have 36 people conducting field surveillance and 48 people in the lab and at operations," he said.
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