The National Bee Pest Surveillance Program is an early warning system to detect new incursions of exotic bee pests and pest bees. The program involves a range of surveillance methods conducted at sea and air ports throughout Australia considered to be the most likely entry points for bee pests and pest bees.
The National Bee Pest Surveillance Program has two major objectives:
Trade support
To facilitate the export of queen bees and packaged bees to countries sensitive to a range of bee pests and pest bees. This program will provide technical, evidence based, information to support Australia’s pest free status claims during export negotiations and will assist exporters in meeting export certification requirements.
Exotic bee pest and pest bee early warning
To act as an early warning system to detect new incursions of exotic bee pests and pest bees. This greatly increases the possibility of eradicating an incursion and limits the scale and cost of an eradication program.
The program is jointly funded by the Australian Honey Bee Industry Council, Hort Innovation, Grain Producers Australia and the Australian Government Department of Agriculture and Water Resources. In-kind contributions for the implementation of the program are provided through each state and territory Department of Agriculture as well as volunteer beekeepers. At a national level, PHA coordinates and administers the program.
Video
Part of the Bee Biosecurity Video Series produced by PHA and Plant & Food Research NZ, this video gives an overview of the National Bee Pest Surveillance Program.
Bee Biosecurity Video Series on the BeeAware website
Fact sheet
About the National Bee Pest Surveillance Program
This summary document includes the objectives of the program, methods used for surveillance, the role of PHA in the program and the sources of funding.
National Bee Pest Surveillance Program Steering Committee
The National Bee Pest Surveillance Program Steering Committee has an advisory role to ensure delivery and progression towards full implementation of National Bee Pest Surveillance Program, including monitoring the uptake of improved surveillance initiatives in their jurisdictions. The committee comprises representatives from Hort Innovation, Australian Honey Bee Industry Council (AHBIC), the state and territory governments, the Australian Government and Plant Health Australia. The committee meets twice a year and is chaired by a nominated representative from AHBIC.
Communique from Meeting 2 (May 2019)
Communique from Meeting 3 (November 2019)
Communique from Meeting 4 (May 2020)
Communique from Meeting 5 (November 2020)
Communique from Meeting 6 (June 2021)
Communique from Meeting 7 (December 2021)
Communique from Meeting 8 (April 2022)
Recent Comments