permaculture

["Charles de Matas" <cdematas@hotmail.com>]

I got the following information on the caribbean situation with honey bees 
from a consultant on a caribbean list.
Charles


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Honeybee (Apis melifera) genetic resources in the Caribbean
European honeybees (and Africanised honeybees in Trinidad & Guyana) are the 
mainstasy of CARICOM's honey production and crop pollination.  However, they 
are being wiped out by the vampire mite (Varroa).  The European bee is the 
more susceptible, as the Africanised version has superior hygienic and other 
behaviours for dealing with the mite infestation.

During the last decade, this mite has wiped out over 90 percent of feral 
honeybee colonies in North America, UK, etc. It is thought that a 
combination of the pest and agricultural pesticides conspired to deal the 
death blow.

Only with the use of miticides have the commercially managed hives survived. 
Unfortunately, resistance to the pesticides has evolved very rapidly.  Last 
year, avocado growers in California had to import hives from as far afield 
as Florida and Hawaii to support pollination.

As the mite has moved into the Caribbean, the industry has collapsed in 
territory after territory. A year ago, as few as ten hives remained on St 
Vincent.   The mite arrived in Antigua in 2005 and now few bees can be seen 
anywhere.  This has consequences for commercial melon farmers here, who 
rented hives from beekeepers to ensure high quality fruit set.  The main 
beekeeper in Barbados survived by creating a business based on bee removals 
from buildings. Now, his bees are returning, as the fittest survivors begin 
to fill the gap.

Caribbean beekeepers have had varied success with the use of chemical 
treatments for mites. The proprietary chemicals have been beyond the reach 
of some pockets and many have depended on natural recovery.

Over the long term recovery may depend on the abilities of the black bee 
variant which appear to be superior at surviving varroa infestations.. The 
golden bee is thought to have been introduced from England and from France.  
However, some researchers have suggested that the black bees were introduced 
from Spain or Portugal at an earlier date. Some of the blackest bees in the 
Caribbean are to be found in the Dominican Republic & Haiti.   It is 
possible that the black bee is closely related to African bees (owing to the 
proximity of the Iberian peninsula to the continnt of Africa). Over the 
years of colonialism in the Caribbean, the gold and black European bees must 
have inter-mingled to produce the spectrum of colourings found in Caribbean 
hives, today.

Sounds familiar?

Re C de Mates  request on
Stingless bees
Do consider impoving habitat for rearing stingless bees in Trinidad.  As a 
bonus, the honey sells very well.  Information on stingless bees should be 
available through the Apiculture Division in St Augustine. Contact 
bees@agriculture.gov.tt .   Some leading research is being conducted in T&T, 
especially on Tobago, in collaboration with Dutch scientists.  They have 
developed special hive boxes, there.

For centuries, the stingless bees have been managed in log hives by 
pre-Columbian peoples and are still reared by the Maya of Central America, 
today. The honey sells at five times the price of normal honey, They use the 
honey medicinaly- one species for colds, one for treating the eyes, etc.  
There is a great research centre in Costa Rica; their literature is in 
Spanish but they all speak English, too.

Preliminary surveys suggest that most of the Caribbean islands now have few 
species of stingless bees.  As usual, T&T is the the exception, being an 
ecological extension of Venezuela.  Many species live there and were 
apparently first reared in hives by the indentured Hindus, who needed honey 
for the puja ceremonies.

Anthony R (consultant), Antigua
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