The province will have to tighten up the protocol on importing bee hives from outside the province. So says Calvin Hicks, President of the New Brunswick Beekeepers Association.
This follows the recent discovery of the small hive beetle in New Brunswick which can destroy beehives and came here in imported hives from Ontario.
“The system failed this year. We can’t supply enough bees for the pollination demand in New Brunswick ourselves, we have to import hives but we should be importing healthy hives.”
Hicks says beekeepers in southwestern Ontario have have been hit hard because their climate is warmer.
“Our focus needs to be on our import protocols for infected hives from Ontario. We can’t let infected hives comes to New Brunswick again. That’s where the real spread will come from,” Calvin Hicks tells CHSJ News.
