WASHINGTON — Scientists are unsure what is responsible for a mysterious disorder that has decimated beehives across the country, but the latest suspect is imported honeybees from Australia.
By some estimates, beekeepers in the past several years have lost from a third to half of their hives to what is called colony collapse disorder. Each hive, or colony, can contain as many as 100,000 bees. The bees disappear, never to be seen again.
“A link between the disorder, first reported in the United States in 2006, and honeybee imports from Australia has been suggested,” according to a recent notice in the Federal Register by the Agriculture Department’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service.
The department was seeking comment on a draft report that concluded “zoosanitary” measures or restrictions might be needed to reduce the risk that viruses carried by Australian honeybees could reach the U.S.
Such measures might include inspections, quarantines and genetic testing. Agriculture Department officials don’t rule out a ban on imports of Australian bees.
“It’s a possibility, but not at this point,” said Colin Stewart, a senior entomologist at the Agriculture Department.
Officials at the Australian Embassy in Washington insist their bees aren’t a threat to U.S. beekeepers, though they say Australia is facing an invasion of exotic Asian honeybees.
