Varroa Mite Update

Tasmania's Department of Natural Resources and Environment has recently unveiled its Draft Action Plan for Varroa Mite 2024-2034, aimed at protecting the state's crucial beekeeping industry and pollination-dependent agriculture. This comprehensive plan focuses on five key areas to address the threat posed by varroa mite, a parasitic pest that has devastated honeybee populations worldwide.

Prevention and Detection

The first two focus areas of the plan emphasize maintaining and improving activities to reduce the risk of varroa mite entry into Tasmania, as well as upgrading detection capabilities at borders and through post-border surveillance. These measures are critical, as Tasmania remains one of the few places in the world still free from varroa mite.

Rapid Response and Combined Actions

The third focus area aims to build enhanced capacity for rapid response to varroa mite detections. This is complemented by the fourth area, which develops actions that contribute to at least two of the core actions of prevention, detection, or response. These strategies reflect lessons learned from the recent varroa mite incursion in New South Wales, where despite a 15-month eradication effort, the pest was declared established in September 2023.

Plan B: Minimizing Impact

Recognizing the potential for varroa mite to establish despite best efforts, the fifth focus area of the plan addresses minimizing impacts if the pest were to become established in Tasmania. This proactive approach acknowledges the significant threat varroa mite poses to both commercial and recreational beekeepers, as well as to pollination-dependent industries.

Public consultation and engagement

Submissions have now closed on public input on this draft action plan. Workshops have been conducted throughout Tasmania for Beekeeping associations so at to better understand this plan and this exotic pest.

Importance of the Plan

The urgency of this action plan is underscored by the experiences of other regions. In New Zealand, for instance, varroa mite has cost farmers hundreds of millions of dollars in lost agricultural production and wiped out half the country's beekeepers. The potential establishment of varroa mite in Tasmania could have devastating effects, potentially reducing wild honeybee populations by around 95%, as observed in other countries. By implementing this comprehensive action plan, Tasmania aims to safeguard its bee population, protect its agricultural industries, and maintain its unique position as a varroa-free region. The success of this initiative will depend on the collective efforts of government, industry, and the community working together to defend against this significant biosecurity threat.

A copy of the plan can be found at the below link.

Varroa action plan TAS 2024 for consultation.pdf (nre.tas.gov.au)