Speaker 1: Kiyota.
Speaker 2: I'm Chelsea Daniels and this is the Front Page, a
Speaker 2: daily podcast presented by the New Zealand Herald. Bees are
Speaker 2: tiny but mighty players in New Zealand's environment and economy.
Speaker 2: They pollinate our gardens, native plants and crucial crops, supporting
Speaker 2: biodiversity and food production across the country. But an invasive
Speaker 2: threat is looming, the Queen yellow legged hornet. Since June,
Speaker 2: Biosecurity New Zealand has confirmed several detections of these pests
Speaker 2: across Auckland. Today on the front Page, Mahurangi Honey's Pete
Speaker 2: Johnston is with us to chat local honeymaking and why
Speaker 2: bees are so important. So Pete, can you tell me
Speaker 2: how crucial are bees to New Zealand's environment and agriculture sector.
Speaker 1: Well, it's very important actually, because you know, they're big
Speaker 1: on pollination. They not only pollination pollinate for the agricultural sector,
Speaker 1: but they also pollinate native species, you know, which regeneration
Speaker 1: of native bush which helps the ecosystems.
Speaker 3: Yeah, pollinate seventy five percent of our food do we eat.
Speaker 2: I often read things about you know, if the health
Speaker 2: of bees is in decline, then we're in big troubles
Speaker 2: because there's such a huge part of the ecosystem.
Speaker 3: Hey, most definitely, Yes, most definitely.
Speaker 2: So what's this hornet that everyone's so worried about at
Speaker 2: the moment, and why is it such a huge biosecurity
Speaker 2: risk for New Zealand.
Speaker 3: Well, at threatens of bees. They prey on the bees.
Speaker 1: They're they're probably similar to the German wasp, which we've
Speaker 1: already been dealing with for quite a while in New Zealand.
Speaker 1: Was there bees, They'll they'll go in there and just
Speaker 1: pretty much annihilate them. They'll they'll eat the bees for protein,
Speaker 1: they'll eat the honey for carbohydrates. They'll just thrive, you know,
Speaker 1: take the German wass for example. In the past that
Speaker 1: they've come into the New Zealand. They've got no predators.
Speaker 1: They're very adaptable to the resources around them. We had
Speaker 1: apriy up north a little bit. We left them with
Speaker 1: a couple of boxes of honey on them. They were
Speaker 1: very strong, fifteen hives on that particular site after harvest
Speaker 1: so sore looking at January, and we didn't bother putting
Speaker 1: our entrance guards on, which sort of gives them a
Speaker 1: little form of protection. And we came back about a
Speaker 1: couple of months later and there was these big German moss.
Speaker 3: They found them and they're just nailing them.
Speaker 1: They'd taken out sixty six percent of that apriy, you know.
Speaker 1: So it's a big problem. Yeah, and not only problems
Speaker 1: for us, but also for a you know, for the
Speaker 1: species in New Zealand. They've got the potential to take
Speaker 1: out all the vertebrates in New Zealand on once they
Speaker 1: get going.
Speaker 2: Yeah, because I see reports of the queens being found,
Speaker 2: and there seems to be a specific mention of the
Speaker 2: queens being in constructing a nest, or being in the
Speaker 2: throes of construction for a nest. How important is it
Speaker 2: that it doesn't actually solidify? And what happens when they
Speaker 2: get the nest? Are they making a home for all
Speaker 2: their millions of buddies or is the queen pregnant or
Speaker 2: what happens there?
Speaker 1: Well, from my understanding, once again, they'd be similar to
Speaker 1: German German moss does. In between March and February, they
Speaker 1: go into a mating program of their own.
Speaker 3: They'll mate, they'll make about one.
Speaker 1: Thousand to two thousand queens, and then those queens will
Speaker 1: go out hybrid and aw'll be already pregnant and are
Speaker 1: the beggs and them ready to go? And after winter
Speaker 1: they'll come out. In each queen, there's a potential to
Speaker 1: start a new colony.
Speaker 3: These wantings are pretty much the same.
Speaker 1: They don't make as many, I think from my understanding,
Speaker 1: to make on an average about three hundred and three
Speaker 1: point fifty. They can get up to five hundred queens
Speaker 1: through in a season, probably about the same time as
Speaker 1: the German wasp and the common wasp, and they'll go
Speaker 1: and hibernate and then from there so it just goes
Speaker 1: pretty much you do the maths on, it's pretty much exponential.
Speaker 1: So it's really important to nip it in the bud. Now,
Speaker 1: you know, the MPI, Partner's Conservation, whoever, any government department,
Speaker 1: they need to really get on board and get whatever
Speaker 1: resources they can get in there to deal with this critter.
Speaker 2: Yeah, well you mentioned the moth.
Speaker 3: What else?
Speaker 2: Bees threatened by Argentine.
Speaker 3: Nance is another problem. They've been around.
Speaker 1: Quite noticeable around the pretty much the whole coastline of
Speaker 1: New Zealand, and they're a whack with the balance of
Speaker 1: things here too, and they got the potential to go
Speaker 1: into a carnooka tree and get behind a big weather
Speaker 1: for example, and just eat it alive. We've seen an
Speaker 1: area firsthand where you know, a couple of kill meters
Speaker 1: that way and a couple of kilometers that way, a
Speaker 1: couple of kill meters that way, where the Argentine ance
Speaker 1: are just everywhere. It doesn't matter what you pick up
Speaker 1: that they're there. The Department and Conservation aware of the problem,
Speaker 1: but how to deal with it is a big one.
Speaker 1: We're really conscious conscious of when we move gear from
Speaker 1: those sites that we don't take the ants with us
Speaker 1: to another site. That those particular sites we have our
Speaker 1: bees up on pallets, on legs and motes of water
Speaker 1: or grease on rides of steel, so the ants can't
Speaker 1: get up and attack the bees because they will.
Speaker 3: Once again, they're no different to the wasp or these these.
Speaker 1: Adocrits, these hornets, where you know, they get off on
Speaker 1: them the protein and the carbohydrates from the honey.
Speaker 3: So the full rob mode. The bees are freaking out.
Speaker 1: Yeah, they pick on the weak highs first and then
Speaker 1: as they go through those week hives they get stronger
Speaker 1: and then it gives them the power the force to
Speaker 1: get into the more stronger heights and take the email
Speaker 1: as well.
Speaker 4: Bumblebees have particularly large and heavy bodies, and flight for
Speaker 4: them can be a real effort. That's particularly so in
Speaker 4: spring when the mornings are cold and queen bumblebees are
Speaker 4: just emerging from their winter sleep. It's only a few
Speaker 4: degrees above freezing, but a queen needs to get started
Speaker 4: early to look for food.
Speaker 2: How well do you think that the biosecurity system supports
Speaker 2: local beekeepers in managing those invasive species.
Speaker 5: We've had a f B American foul brood in the
Speaker 5: country for a long time and that's one of the
Speaker 5: one of the things that are hot on and they've
Speaker 5: got quite a good system where they've got a digital system.
Speaker 1: As a beekeeper or anybody that's got bees, it's by
Speaker 1: law you have to report if you.
Speaker 3: Do get a f B.
Speaker 1: It's like a bacterium that gets into the hives and
Speaker 1: it affects the brood, and by law you've got to
Speaker 1: report it. Basically, dig a hole and put the box
Speaker 1: and b's in the hole and burn them.
Speaker 3: And it's as simple as that. It's quite a good system,
Speaker 3: so they're on board there.
Speaker 1: They've got quite good resources and tracking for all that
Speaker 1: sort of thing. They notify the beekeepers within a five
Speaker 1: k radius if it's reported, so that that particular thing's
Speaker 1: really good. As far as the variamites that have come
Speaker 1: into the country. There's another example of something coming in.
Speaker 1: There's been a burial pain in the butt that came
Speaker 1: in two thousand, in twenty two, and we're dealing with it.
Speaker 3: It's very expensive to deal.
Speaker 1: With How much does it cost to deal with well,
Speaker 1: I can imagine like a fairly established size company running
Speaker 1: maybe two or three thousand hives.
Speaker 3: You know, they've been looking at probably about twenty.
Speaker 1: Thousand dollars every six months and treatments to deal with it.
Speaker 1: So the pharmaceutical companies that are providing these goods for it,
Speaker 1: they're rubbing their hands together, but they are poor or beekeepers.
Speaker 1: They've really you know, they can't manage as many hives
Speaker 1: as what they used to do. As a matter of fact,
Speaker 1: we've actually backed off. We've backed off. We're in a
Speaker 1: small company and it's just my wife and I. My
Speaker 1: son helps us, and we've downsized just so we can
Speaker 1: manage our bees a bit better and keep them healthy.
Speaker 1: Because things can quickly easily get out of control. For example,
Speaker 1: if you have a really good honey flow like we've
Speaker 1: had in the last couple of years, be populations pick
Speaker 1: up from about five to ten thousand bees up to
Speaker 1: about forty even sixty thousand bees per hive, and then
Speaker 1: say January, you'll take the honey off and then the
Speaker 1: bee population comes down, but the mic population is still there.
Speaker 1: It's increased with population with those bee populations, and they
Speaker 1: just smash the bees hard in autumn.
Speaker 3: They're a real problem, Yeah, real problem.
Speaker 2: Is there anything that can be done about them, like
Speaker 2: to eradicate them completely or do you just have to
Speaker 2: live with the consequences of having them there now?
Speaker 3: Yeah, that's pretty much it, I think.
Speaker 1: And you know, like we've got a lot of young
Speaker 1: enthusiastic guys coming through and we're kind of hoping how
Speaker 1: the country's working on it as well, New Zealand and Australia.
Speaker 3: Australia has just got it.
Speaker 1: We're getting mailed by it quite hard because we have
Speaker 1: big populations of bees on our honey flows.
Speaker 3: Yeah.
Speaker 1: In other countries where it's a bit more cool up
Speaker 1: in Europe, they have a brewd break the bees. The
Speaker 1: queens stop laying so they don't get They don't get
Speaker 1: them as bad as what we do. There are I
Speaker 1: think there are different species of my and maybe even
Speaker 1: different strains they may. My prediction is they probably more
Speaker 1: than likely sort of like hot fybridiz, they may you know,
Speaker 1: evolve stronger, you know, sort of yeah, that way there,
Speaker 1: because we've got other problems coming up in the future,
Speaker 1: possibly where they become resistance to some of the organic
Speaker 1: or generic treatments that we're thrown at them, you know, eg,
Speaker 1: Like the ones that we get from the pharmaceuticals to
Speaker 1: to bring the light. Might levels right down in autumn
Speaker 1: when there's no honey on there. That's when you treat them,
Speaker 1: and you might levels right down, and then they'll they'll
Speaker 1: come slightly come back up again the next season.
Speaker 3: With you know, the bee population coming up.
Speaker 1: One of the problems we faces, like the last couple
Speaker 1: of seasons have been really swarm seasons.
Speaker 3: So if you haven't got control of the a breeze,
Speaker 3: they'll swarm.
Speaker 1: I mean that's a great thing, but if a bee
Speaker 1: colony goes into a tree you haven't got to bee
Speaker 1: keeper caring for it, they'll die out over late autumn
Speaker 1: winter and then we'll treat our bees and they'll be
Speaker 1: all all good. But then they'll go and rob the
Speaker 1: honey off the bese and the trees that have or cows,
Speaker 1: sheep walls, et cetera that are wild that have gone feral,
Speaker 1: and bring the mites back, and you'll have reinfestation of
Speaker 1: these mites. So we've got mites, we've got Argentine hands,
Speaker 1: we've got German wasp and common moss. We do not
Speaker 1: need the Asian hornets, yellow leg torn No, it.
Speaker 2: Sounds like you're dealing with a whole bunch of stuff already.
Speaker 2: So I can imagine why you guys are worried. What
Speaker 2: worries you most about the future of beekeeping in New Zealand,
Speaker 2: Well that.
Speaker 1: In particular, Like I know the beekeepers and they're really enthusiastic,
Speaker 1: really innovaded, highly motivated, educated, and they put they've got
Speaker 1: everything on the line. There's already big companies going bust
Speaker 1: at the moment because you know, with the on running
Speaker 1: costs and honey's come down in price a bit, they
Speaker 1: are struggling. They've got everything on the line. So it's
Speaker 1: going to make it it's going to make it even
Speaker 1: more tricky. They've got something else to deal with like
Speaker 1: this creature. So we've only got a short window of
Speaker 1: opportunity to get it, and that's pretty much between now
Speaker 1: and winter. So MPI Department's conservation, they're pretty much got
Speaker 1: to throw everything at it, even to the point probably
Speaker 1: where some ideas, you know, like I like the idea
Speaker 1: where they're putting pamphlets out in the Glenfield area where
Speaker 1: it's been found, educating people. People in the Glenfield area
Speaker 1: need to google this creature, become familiar with it.
Speaker 3: You know, it's easy to do.
Speaker 1: It's pretty distinctive in its appearances. They need to get
Speaker 1: to get on board with that and go out there
Speaker 1: looking for it. The government departments could possibly look at
Speaker 1: getting private contractors, and there are contractors out there that
Speaker 1: eradicate rates and weeds and stuff like that.
Speaker 3: I'm sure people on the ground you know.
Speaker 4: This far.
Speaker 3: I gotta say something. You're like jazz. You're talking to humans.
Speaker 1: You're flying outside behind very deep beats there.
Speaker 2: So you see soda spilled on a sidewalk and you
Speaker 2: don't drink it.
Speaker 4: Is a little bee. He's not bothering anybody.
Speaker 2: Get out of here, your creep discovering a big secret.
Speaker 3: How did this get here?
Speaker 1: Is this honeyberry just is stealing cute bee?
Speaker 4: Golden blossom? Rayly Yoda private select.
Speaker 2: It does seem like quite a slippery slope if it
Speaker 2: does take hold. Can you remember when I suppose the
Speaker 2: first couple of moths were found, or the first couple
Speaker 2: of those ants were found, how quickly did they take hold?
Speaker 3: Well they did with a moth, I can.
Speaker 1: I can quite clearly remember the the orion circling Auckland's
Speaker 1: wise And I don't know what they were spraying around
Speaker 1: in the skies. I don't know if that's a street
Speaker 1: that we need to go up. That's that's that'd be
Speaker 1: a major concern, especially spraying over a populated area. I'm
Speaker 1: sure they'll get a lot of flak from that. That's
Speaker 1: a big, big one. That's where he needs a lot
Speaker 1: of thought.
Speaker 3: But suit me.
Speaker 1: People on the ground doing surveillance, traps, lots of traps
Speaker 1: they can use out there to try and catch it,
Speaker 1: and basically looking looking on northern slopes, warm gullies around
Speaker 1: that area. If it makes its way out of that
Speaker 1: area into the bush, she's pretty much over read rover.
Speaker 1: We won't get it. Yeah, if it's anything like the
Speaker 1: German boss.
Speaker 2: How can everyday ordinary New Zealanders try and help not
Speaker 2: only looking out for this was, but for bees in general.
Speaker 2: I mean I've seen videos of people sprinkling wildflowers in
Speaker 2: their in their gardens or something. I mean, does that
Speaker 2: stuff actually work?
Speaker 3: I think so?
Speaker 1: Yeah, great, that'd be great year Like borage and herbs,
Speaker 1: they could look at look it up fruit trees in
Speaker 1: the back yard. They'll better prosper from the pollination as well.
Speaker 1: You know, the pollinations off the scale. If you've got
Speaker 1: bees around, maybe it's being mindful when they're using herbicides
Speaker 1: and then sector sides if they decide to use them
Speaker 1: and use them spearingly. If you can pull out a weed,
Speaker 1: pull it out, don't need to spray it. Thistles, for example,
Speaker 1: you don't need to spray this was. We used to
Speaker 1: just grub them with a grub. It's just as quick,
Speaker 1: good workout. You don't need to go to the gym
Speaker 1: if you're doing that sort of stuff. Yeah, there's lots
Speaker 1: of things that that can be done to help the bees.
Speaker 1: There's legislation that was brought out years ago that you
Speaker 1: can personally be personally liable if you spray plants that
Speaker 1: are in flour when the bleak, when the honey flowers
Speaker 1: on and the bee populations are high, so each like
Speaker 1: a farm or something like that, spray and gorse when
Speaker 1: and fully in flour. Those sorts of things really need
Speaker 1: to be done at the right in the right season,
Speaker 1: at the right time. But yeah, there is legislation that
Speaker 1: they can actually be liable for all costs.
Speaker 3: The damage is done to an aprick.
Speaker 2: For example, if a young person came up to you
Speaker 2: tomorrow and said, I want a career in beekeeping. It's
Speaker 2: my lifelong dream, what would you tell them. Would you
Speaker 2: say pack it in, go to UNI and learn something else,
Speaker 2: or would you say stick with it.
Speaker 3: Yeah, No, they really.
Speaker 1: Need to, you know, someone who's young, an enthusiastic and
Speaker 1: once to get into beekeeping.
Speaker 3: Yeah, go for it. Yeah, we definitely need the more
Speaker 3: people come in.
Speaker 1: And there's been a decline and beekeepers and beg companies
Speaker 1: have been you know, well with ongoing costs and you know,
Speaker 1: these problems that we're having worth.
Speaker 3: Mines for example, especially dropping honey prices.
Speaker 1: There's definitely been in decline and bee companies have been
Speaker 1: dropping left, right and center. There was an increase in
Speaker 1: the from about twenty nineteen.
Speaker 3: It was a big.
Speaker 1: Increase because it was a bit of a gold rush.
Speaker 1: Honey prices were good. A lot of people jumped on board.
Speaker 1: But yeah, there's a light at the end of the tunnel.
Speaker 1: It's a great industry to be in, even starting off.
Speaker 1: Being a hobbyist is the way to go, you know,
Speaker 1: and get the feel of it. Get some knowledge behind
Speaker 1: you before you jump in with both feet. You've got
Speaker 1: less to lose.
Speaker 3: That way, you know. Lots of lot can go wrong.
Speaker 1: When you're a beekeeper if you haven't got control, that's
Speaker 1: for sure.
Speaker 2: Thanks for joining us, Pete no worries.
Speaker 3: Hopefully that's helpful information.
Speaker 2: That's it for this episode of The Front Page. You
Speaker 2: can read more about today's stories and extensive news coverage
Speaker 2: at nsidherld dot co dot nz. The Front Page is
Speaker 2: produced by Jane Ye and Richard Martin, who was also
Speaker 2: our editor. I'm Chelsea Daniels. Subscribe to The Front Page
Speaker 2: on iHeartRadio or wherever you get your podcasts, and tune
Speaker 2: in on Monday for another look behind the headlines.