The Native Irish Honey Bee Society has hit out at plans to import bees into Ireland, saying that the move could threaten “all of Ireland’s 98 bee species”, and could introduce predators such as the Asian hornet to the Irish environment.
“Anyone who loves bees, no matter what association or organisation they belong to, can understand the potential damage,” the group said, adding that other bee conservation groups such as the IBA, FIBKA, UBKA and INIB had also rowed in with their opposition to the move.
“Reports about importing even more bees into Ireland continue in the media, and apart from the danger of hybridisation among native bees, there are major risks of also importing pests, diseases and pathogens, which could threaten all of Ireland’s 98 bee species,” the group said in a statement.
“We have lived through Varroa’s destruction, and now those who enjoy beekeeping as a hobby or who make a living from bees may have their enjoyment and livelihood compromised once again — simply to increase someone else’s profits.”
The group went on to state that the Dark European Honeybee (Apis mellifera mellifera, or “Amm”), is “on the brink of extinction” throughout most of its original territory of Northern Europe, and that it has been “hybridised” due to the importation of other subspecies and cross-breeding.
“Additionally, they have been severely impacted by pests and diseases which piggybacked on those non-native subspecies,” the group said.
“Thankfully pure strains of Amm still exist in pockets throughout Ireland, a cause for celebration — but alarm as well. Because scientific research has shown that populations of pure Amm have not been reported elsewhere in Europe in such numbers, it is now widely acknowledged that Ireland has a unique genetic resource which needs to be protected for the sake of Amm’s survival here as well as its use in European Amm breeding programmes.”
A recent survey by the National University of Galway (NUIG) confirmed that about 90% of Irish beekeepers work with Amm (of 350 respondents). A separate survey by the Irish Beekeepers Association (IBA) showed that 82% use Amm, 7% Buckfast, 2% other and 5% do not know.
The group continued, saying that “the importation of bees could furthermore introduce yet another devastating threat: the potential invasion of Small Hive Beetle, first found in 2014 in Italy, from where more than 15 million bees are allegedly being imported into Ireland.”
“We stayed Varroa-free here for many years despite its arrival into UK – that is, until it was inadvertently brought here on imported bees,” they said.
“Very soon it spread everywhere, and we have had to struggle with the consequences ever since. This could be our fate with SHB too. We also hear that European Foulbrood is now widespread in some parts of UK, and we fear what havoc that could wreak on our stocks, especially the newly spreading Type 3 strain.
“Then the Asian Hornet is another encroaching threat, a live specimen of which was recently spotted in Ireland. All of these invasive pests, diseases and pathogens may also weaken our bumble, solitary and wild bee populations — our biodiversity — of which 1/3 of Irish bees face extinction.”