New South Wales beekeepers want answers after the state's latest varroa mite emergency zone was shifted — after many unnecessarily faced the agonising prospect of having to euthanase their bees.
Surveillance and tracing work identified two new detections of the mite last week in beehives in Taree and nearby Wherrol Flat, on the Mid North Coast, which led to the creation of two eradication emergency zones.
But a spokesperson for the NSW Department of Primary Industries (DPI) said the emergency zone near Taree had since moved.
"Ongoing tracing and interviews clarified information regarding the address of one site and the control order was subsequently updated to show the Taree zone centred further down the same road, but closer to Krambach," the spokesperson said.
The change has caused confusion among beekeepers with hives in the original eradication zone, because a detection triggers restrictions on movement and requirements to destroy hives.
"Especially for people who were in the red zone and then suddenly not, I think we deserve an explanation for why that happened," apiarist Peter Matthieson said.
Mr Matthieson said his hives near Wherrol Flat were set to be destroyed, but other hives near Taree had "narrowly escaped" because of the change.
"I'd done a very close, diligent check on the map and I went to bed knowing that I'd lost them. I'd even gone out and ordered some parts, beehive equipment to replace those ones," he said.
"I didn't sleep that night because I was trying to figure out how I could operate a viable business.
"Originally a third of my hives were going to be destroyed and a third were going to be in lockdown in the purple zone with a 'no move' order on them."
The DPI statement said no hives had been destroyed since the detection and both sites remained "clearly linked to known properties in current eradication zones through the illegal movement of beehives".
Mr Matthieson said he was contacted by DPI on Wednesday about the change.
"Every minute they didn't contact us was a minute that I was contemplating how to keep my business running and how to rebuild," he said.
NSW Apiarists' Association president Steve Fuller said it can "take a couple of weeks" after a property is identified for hives to be euthanased.
Mr Fuller previously had his own hives destroyed in Nana Glen last year due to varroa mite detections near Coffs Harbour.
"It is not pleasant to find out you have to euthanase bees," he said.
"It's really disheartening when you think, 'Oh, I'm losing my bees' and then all of a sudden they're in the purple zone."
The DPI said all 88 beekeepers registered in the two new eradication zones had been contacted.
