Hundreds of beehives to be destroyed in Newcastle to contain Vaorra mite

A 10-kilometre eradication zone was established around the Port of Newcastle, after the mite that has decimated honey bee populations across the world was found in three hives.

The NSW Department of Primary Industries estimates more than 300 beehives within the eradication zone will have to be euthanised. About 150 of those belong to Williamtown beekeeper David Vial.

Mr Vial, the Hunter Valley Amateur Beekeepers Club vice president, runs a honey business, and sells beekeeping equipment and queens bees, the genetics of which he's been working on for the past eight years.

The emotional toll has been "pretty high".

"It's like the foot and mouth disease of the bee industry," Mr Vial said.

"We always said it's not if, it's when - but man, the when has come pretty quickly.

"I had no mites in my boxes but I'm still going to lose them. I understand, but it's still hard to get your head around. It's been a lot of hard work to get the genetics right for the queen breeding."

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Six sentinel hives at the Port and three private hives in Newcastle have been destroyed in the biosecurity operation so far.

A further 120 hives had been destroyed on a property in the Trangie area in central west NSW, where a Newcastle beekeeper kept hives.

Bective amateur beekeeper Lachlan Ennis said it was a "heartbreaking" situation that no beekeeper or farmer wanted to find themselves in.

"All farmers would understand the emotional and financial toll," Mr Ennis said.

"They may be small and there are tens of thousands to a hive, but it's no different to putting down cattle or any other livestock."

Although Mr Ennis is north-west of Tamworth, more than 300km away from the eradication zone, news of incursion was "deeply disturbing".

"A few hundred kilometres is nothing in the scheme of things," he said.

"They're free-ranging animals that are close to impossible to contain, so this could spread very quickly - and this will ripple right through the agricultural chain as well.

"Almond pollination is meant to start soon. If they can't move bees across NSW, how are they going to get to the Riverina and Victoria where all those massive almond farms on the Murrumbidgee are? Almonds are 100 per cent reliant on bees for pollination."

A department spokesperson said there was "certainly no indication of the eradication zone being extended at this point".

Whitebridge beekeeper Edina Tot, who also teaches others the art of beekeeping, said she was lucky, as most of her hives are outside the eradication zone in the Hunter Valley.

She will still have two hives destroyed but shuddered to think how many of her students will be affected.

"I don't know how to break the news to these kids and families that their bees will be killed," Ms Tot said.

"These kids are with their bees every day after school, counting them and observing how they behave, then reporting it back to me

"It is kind of like a dog. Imagine if one day, you wake up and you're told every dog in this region will be killed as a preventative measure. You definitely feel the weight of it."

A 50-kilometre biosecurity zone has been established around the Port of Newcastle and all beekeepers within this area must notify the DPI of the locations of their hives.

A 25-kilometre surveillance zone is also in place, with officials monitoring and inspecting honey bees in this area.