Over the past several years, Manitoba Beekeepers’ Association (MBA) has been working at meeting the needs for healthy bee stocks in our province. We recognize the border issue was contentious in the past, yet recent surveys revealed beekeepers attitudes changed over the years, as has our beekeeping industry.
In light of the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) Risk Assessment on the Importation of Honey Bee (Apis mellifera) Packages from the United States of America document released in 2014, it became apparent that the risks associated with importation are not uniform across Canada. MBA, with the assistance of Manitoba Agriculture, Food and Rural Development, critically reviewed each of the risks outlined in the CFIA Risk Assessment, in relation to the threat they posed to Manitoba through packaged bees imported from Northern California. We restricted our evaluation to packages from the same locations, and in fact some of the same operations, where queen bees are imported from starting in 2004. Our findings, recommendations, and actions are documented in a White Paper called “Importation of Packaged Honey Bees from California, United States to Manitoba, Canada”
MBA is releasing this “White Paper” document to the public, to inform them of our findings, as well as solicit feedback to help develop the necessary procedures and protocols to mitigate the threats.
WHITE PAPER: Please click here for PDF document.
Please provide your feedback to mbasecretary@nullmts.net before 28 February 2015.