Subject: Africanized bees advance

From: [email-masked] (Andy Nachbaur)
Date: Tue, 10 Sep 1996 22:56:00 GMT

*Review of "CALIFORNIA AGRICULTURE", July-August 1996
Free on Request, $12 outside USA, UC Publications, 300 Lakeside Dr.,
6th Floor, Oakland, CA 94612-3560, telephone (510) 987-0044
http://www.ucop.edu/anrhome/danr.html

California Prepared, But Has Africanized Bee Advance Stalled?

What happened to the Afro bees that stalked across the Amazon without
leaving a trace, travels 300 miles a year, reported to have killed
hundreds if not thousands on their way to the US. Arriving on schedule
in Texas in 1990, western Arizona in 1993, and Riverside County,
southern California in October 1994. The Body Count in the US is said
to bee 4 from the Afro Bees, but some experts on the scene dispute
this, in any case bees do kill and in California no reported deaths
in two years from the Afro Bees.

In 1994 the first Africanized bees were found in California. In 1995
the total was 13 finds. As of July 31, 1996 an additional 16 finds have
been made, 14 in Imperial County, and 2 in Riverside County.

Whats wrong here, maybe the count is off, or maybe they are not looking
as close as they would have you think?

In the "CALIFORNIA AGRICULTURE magazine just received on pg 24-28,
volume 50, number 4 there is a Bee Research Report or review from Kirk
Visscher and Francis Ratnieks which is updated from an earlier report
printed earlier elsewhere. The authors indicate that "as of April 1996,
21 colonies had been identified as Africanized, mostly in Imperial
County." They go on to state that by the end of July 1996 30 colonies
of Afro bees have been verified in southern California. But whats 14
hives more, just like whats the difference between a few normal deaths
>from  bees in SA and then hundreds, that soon becomes thousands as each
BS competes for public interest and support. Who can you believe, and
would you believe that both set of numbers come from the same elite
scientific publication? Well check out page 6, "AFRICANIZED BEE ADVANCE
SLOWLY" as that is the source of the first count. Visscher and Ratnieks
report is about "Living with the Africanized bee.." or "SINALOAN
BEEKEEPERS ADAPT POLLINATION TO AFRICANIZED BEES", and chronicles two
visits ten years after the first Afro bees were said to have been found
in Sinaloa State Mexico. One visit was in December 1991 and the other in
January 1991. Sinaloa is a prime winter salad bowl and most is exported
to the west coast of California via Nogales terminals that handle about
500 truck loads a day of winter vegetables including cuc's, squash,
eggplant, and peppers that Mexican beekeepers provide bees to pollinate
all with at the least first cross Afro bees.

I won't go any farther then this as I believe I have posted the article
as it appeared in the "CALIFORNIA BEE TIMES" not long ago. There are
some glaring errors in this article, one that really caught my eye was
the statement that 1.4 million hives are used for pollination in
California each year. This is about what I would say, but the article
goes on to say that only 50 times the number of bees that are used by
Sinaloan beekeepers are used for pollination in California. This is
false as we have individual beekeepers who pollinate more in California
with more bee hives then are found in the state of Sinaloa that are used
in pollination.
                           ttul OLd Drone

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