Bees in trouble
Are Gabriola bees in trouble? The Vancouver Sun reports that 90 per cent of bee colonies have been wiped out on Vancouver Island. Since Gabriola is so close to Vancouver Island, it’s hard to imagine that our bees have fared much better.
If bees don’t polinate your veggies and flowers, and if bees don’t pollinate local crops, who will?
Here’s what the Sun article says:
Vancouver Island beekeepers are reeling from the worst commercial honeybee die-off in recent memory, with some estimating almost 90 per cent of colonies have been wiped out in the last few months.
Many blame a harmful parasite called varroa mites that has become immune to some pesticides, and fear the shortage of bees could affect spring pollination.
The amount of bees that have been lost is just phenomenal,said Sol Nowitz, a veteran commercial beekeeper who breeds bees and produces honey at the Jingle Pot Apiary in Nanaimo.It’s the biggest catastrophe to kill bees on the Island ever.
[The article quoted above is no longer available on the newspaper's website.]
Updates:
- More about that bee problem – March 28th, 2010
- The bee-killing pesticide – December 15th, 2010
Filed in food,Gabriola Island,gardening,insects 2 Comments so far
2 Responses to “Bees in trouble”
Marcia on 24 Mar 2010 at 1:14 pm #
Aloha, I’m a journalist and author, and have been researching the issue of cell phone radiation (EMRs) and the health of human beings, as well as the planet. There are many, many renown scientists who specialize in Electromagnetic Radiation, or EMR, who say the ONLY plausible and biologically sound explanation for massive honey bee die off simultaneously around the world is the saturation in the environment of EMR. These man-made frequencies are devastating to the immune systems and other systems. This theory explains a weakened immune system in the bees, and the abandonment of their hives (based on German research with hives and cell phones — see link below). Politically, the wireless industry is now probably the largest and most powerful industry on the planet, we have all become completely reliant on wireless technology — so there is a HUGE investment in NOT deeply exploring the health impact of EMR on the planet.
http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/234641/the_case_of_the_disappearing_bees_pt.html?cat=9
Gabriolan on 24 Mar 2010 at 3:28 pm #
I would be interested to see what a variety of scientists think about this, Marcia. I’ve noticed that opinion on the matter is rather divided, though those who blame the use of cell phones for the problem are very vocal. And who knows? Maybe they’re right. But then again, maybe they’re not.
Wikipedia’s page on collony collapse disorder lists other possible causes of this problem.
The 2007 Associated Content article you cited didn’t really grab me: it mentions one study, which is not exactly conclusive. But did you note the related content Associated Content put in the sidebar of that web page? One link there was to this article: Hope for Honeybees – Colony Collapse Disorder Cause Found and Treated. That article notes that
I’m not saying that cell phone radiation isn’t a problem. It may be. But to blame everything on cell phones without providing a lot of data to prove that…. well, hmmm. I’m reminded of the people who were so sure that a cell tower was causing their health problems, even though the tower was turned off at the time.