Australia urged to protect its honey worker bees

CANBERRA (Reuters) – Australia’s honey bees, crucial to worldwide food production, need more protection from foreign invaders that could potentially wipe out their population, a parliamentary report said on Tuesday

Australia is a major supplier of queen and hive bees to North America, Japan and the Middle East, cashing in on its standing as the only country not to suffer from a deadly bee mite known as the varroa destructor.


But the varroa mite has been found in bees in neighboring Papua New Guinea and New Zealand, raising new fears it could soon breach Australian borders.

“Scientists who have studied the progress of this pest believe that it is only a matter of time before it arrives in Australia and devastates the honey bee population,” the report said, urging the government to tighten border and quarantine controls.

Reuters