The deadly varroa mite found in Newcastle has become a major threat to the bee industry as Canberrans grow concerned about their own hives.
Alan Wade has kept bees for over 40 years and understands the possibility of the mite getting to Canberra could completely change the way bees are managed.
"It could be devastating for the bees but people will still keep bees they won't go away ... it's just much harder to keep them," he said.
"Unless you treat [the bees] properly at the right times, unless you monitor their numbers which means quite a lot of extra work, you're going to lose your bees.
"Any backyarder who doesn't look after his bees, what I call a bee owner will lose his bees, that's just inevitable."
If the mite gets out across the country, Mr Wade said the difficult period is autumn as bee numbers drop off in the colder months.
"You must get the [mite] numbers down in autumn ... the weather gets cooler and it gets cold so the bee numbers drop right off but the mites don't so they have a disproportionate effect unless you treat them," he said.
Mr Wade is convinced the mite will spread across the country as it's "only a matter of time".
"If it doesn't get away this time, there'll be another incursion ... we've been expecting this for 20-25 years, we've just been lucky so far," he said.
Another eradication zone was established in NSW on Thursday to contain the deadly varroa infestation after the initial detection at sentinel hives near the Port of Newcastle last week.
The NSW Department of Primary Industries confirmed it set up an emergency zone at a property in Calga, about 100 kilometres south of Newcastle, in response to confirmed detections of the mite.
The Australian Honey Bee Industry Council acting chief executive Danny Le Feuvre remained optimistic the mite can be completely eradicated.
"We're working towards eradication and we're still confident that we've got it contained. We're not finding any detections that are unexplained so we're comfortable that the natural movement of this mite hasn't been great," Mr Le Feuvre said.
A large team of volunteers and incident management professionals are "working methodically through the process" to eradicate mites from travelling across the country.
"We know Australia is the last continent in the world to be free of varroa mites, we've looked overseas at how they're dealing with it, how they've dealt with their incursion and learnt from those experiences as an industry," he said.
"We've got preparedness plans in place, we've done simulations on what to do with this scenario so we do feel we are prepared."
We've made it a whole lot easier for you to have your say. Our new comment platform requires only one log-in to access articles and to join the discussion on The Canberra Times website. Find out how to register so you can enjoy civil, friendly and engaging discussions. See our moderation policy here.
