Alberta beekeepers have their fingers crossed that government permits to allow queen bees into Canada from Hawaii will be issued.
Derrick Johnston of the Alberta Honey Producers Co-op said he’s hoping the rumour mill is correct and officials with the Canadian Food Inspection Agency and the U.S. Department of Agriculture will finish negotiations and sign permits this week.
“We are concerned because no one has got a permit yet,” said Johnston.
The permits, which must be applied for annually, were delayed after the discovery of the varroa mite in Hawaii bee colonies. It can cause severe death losses in hives.
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“The industry is confident there will be a solution because we have varroa mites in both countries,” he said.
Johnston said it’s the first time permits have been delayed from Hawaii.
CFIA officials were not available for comment.
Beekeeper Allen Dick of Sawlwell, Alta., said the delay in queen bee imports would not have a serious impact on producers until later in the season.
“It’s not serious yet. It’s just an inconvenience and a phytosanitary game governments play with each other. There’s nothing Hawaii has that we don’t have here.”
Dick said Canadian beekeepers and especially Alberta beekeepers are dependent on outside queens to supply the booming honey and pollination business.
Canada imports about 100,000 queen bees from Hawaii each year to help replenish losses in Canadian hives because of the cold spring season.
In the past, Alberta has imported queens from the U.S. mainland and Chile. Dick is unsure how the recent earthquake in Chile will impact queen exports from that country.
Johnston said while other countries have supplied Canada with queen bees in the past, it’s not easy to ramp up queen bee production quickly if the permits aren’t signed soon.
“It doesn’t happen overnight. Raising queens is a bit of an art.”
