NSW Department of Primary Industries’ (DPI) surveillance and tracing work has confirmed two new detections of Varroa mite in the Hunter and Central Coast areas, including one case in Tea Gardens.

In an announcement on February 14, NSW DPI Chief Plant Protection Officer Satendra Kumar said one of the detections falls within the current eradication (red) zone at Cessnock, while the other was located in the surveillance (purple) zone at Tea Gardens.

“These developments will see the eradication and surveillance zones expand to the west in the Hunter area, as well as a slight expansion of the Central Coast eradication zone to the North,” Dr Kumar said.

“The new detections are not unexpected with the level of surveillance work being carried out in the purple zones, where response teams have tested more than 33,000 hives on top of the 102,000 that have been tested by beekeepers.

“One of the new infected premises came through self-reporting which is encouraging to see as it is essential that industry continues with their high levels of surveillance and basic hive hygiene.”

Destruction of hives has begun at the infected properties and trace investigations are underway.

Days later, new detections of Varroa mite were confirmed in beehives at two locations near Taree.

NSW DPI Chief Plant Protection Officer Satendra Kumar said both sites were clearly linked to known properties in current eradication zones through the illegal movement of beehives.

“These detections have resulted from careful tracing and surveillance of hives in the declared eradication zones and show that our approach is working,” Dr Kumar said.

“Interviews with beekeepers in the restricted zones near Millfield and Wyong revealed the movement of hives from those sites into the Taree area.

“NSW DPI is investigating the circumstances surrounding the movement of hives to both sites.

Penalties for illegally moving hives can be up to $1.1 million or imprisonment for three years for individuals and $2.2 million for corporations.”

Testing at the two sites at Taree and Wherrol Flat confirmed the presence of Varroa mite in a small number of hives which were moved into the region in December.

Urgent tracing has ruled out further movement of hives off the Taree site and is underway in relation to the Wherrol Flat site.

Tracing has also identified four movements of beehives from the surrounding areas since December to other locations in the state, but these are considered low-risk given the distance of those hives from the two infected sites.

Dr Kumar said NSW DPI would issue individual biosecurity directions to prevent the further movement of beehives in those four cases as a precaution until testing can confirm they are free of Varroa mite.

“While this is the first detection outside of a restricted zone for some time, the clear link between the point of origin and the Taree sites gives us confidence that our tracing and surveillance approach continues to be effective,” Dr Kumar said.

“The critical task now for beekeepers is to report any hives they have in the Taree zones, and any hives they have moved through those areas since December so that we can test those hives and confirm these are isolated cases.”

Two additional infestation sites near Millfield were also identified in the surveillance zone near Millfield.

The new cases bring the total number of infected premises to 118 since Varroa mite was first identified at the Port of Newcastle in June 2022.

For more information visit https://www.dpi.nsw.gov.au/varroa.