Agriculture Victoria have announced new permits are available to beekeepers wanting to move their beehives and equipment out of the established Victorian section of the surveillance emergency zones that were established after new Varroa mite detections.
Victorian beekeepers are paying close attention to the NSW border, after the detections of the parasite were found on four NSW properties in the Sunraysia and Riverina regions.
Infested hives on three properties near Euston, NSW, last Thursday prompted the NSW Department of Primary Industries to establish a 25-kilometre surveillance emergency zone.
That zone extends into Robinvale on the Victorian side of the Murray River, along with other localities including Lake Powell, Wandown, Bannerton and Happy Valley.
Another zone near Balnarald, NSW, was established on Monday after a detection there, affecting Victorian beekeepers working near Kenley and Narrung.
A 10-kilometre eradication zone around all infected properties has also been established, where hives and bee material will be destroyed.
Victoria's chief plant health officer, Rosa Crnov said beekeepers need to inform Agriculture Victoria of their locations and where they were heading to.
"It will also be a requirement that they continue to report their movements to us," Dr Crnov said.
Dr Crnov said the decision to allow the movement of hives was due to concerns regarding bee health and declining floral resources, and was made in consultation with state, territory and commonwealth governments, and affected industries as part of the National Response Plan.
"'Under the permit there will also be a requirement to undertake alcohol wash tests of the hives at the rates prescribed, within seven days of moving,' she said.
In the south-west of the state, Camperdown beekeeper Anna Carrucan said she would be vigilantly checking and testing her hives for the parasite.
"With the weather being reasonable and mild to start hive inspections in the Camperdown area this week, I'll be doing what's called an alcohol wash test on hives to test them, to make sure there is no Varroa mite infesting the hives," Dr Carrucan said.
"We need to be vigilant."
Authorities will meet this week to assess whether there needs to be a change from an Varroa mite eradication to management strategy.
Dr Carrucan said eradication was possible and beekeepers' "efforts and sacrifices will be for the greater good".
"It's going to depend on funding and resources to get to eradication, and I don't think there is a reason to give that up yet," she said.
"The flow-on effects on having Varroa here as an endemic pest will mean increased workloads and labour costs for beekeepers and their staff.
"There'll be increased costs for managing hives and applying treatment... and that then flows to pollination, contract costs, potential food price increases and the end result is the consumer is going to become aware how important bees are in their food production, more so than they are now."
Dr Carrucan said bees were necessary for pollinating crops like apples, cherries, and some seed crops, as well as enhancing broadacre cropping like canola.
Almond Australia board member Tim Jackson said this season's pollination was close to completion so the industry was lucky in that respect, but he had fears for the future.
"It is not only infested hives, but those not infested that need to move to feed the bees," he said.
Former Victorian Farmers Federation Grains Group president and Baker Seed Company managing director Ashley Fraser, Rutherglen, said bees played a crucial role in the pollination of crops like canola, but farmers were still assessing what the recent developments meant for them.
"We're at that point where everything is flowering now, obviously cereals are pollinated by wind so the impact is not there for them, but the concern is what happens from here going forward and the impact on next year's crop," he said.
"We're trying to quantify how widespread these outbreaks are and the impact they will have on the movement of hives and how that will affect seed production going forward."
Mr Fraser grows about 30 per cent canola, 30pc wheat and 40pc other crops like lupins and beans on his property.
"Bees are absolutely critical to the food chain, bees are our life," he said.
"The horse has bolted, but we want to see if we can pull it up and how we can deal with it."
Dr Crnov has confirmed as of August 29, no Varroa mite had been found in the state.
"We understand that beekeepers are concerned about the situation and their hives," Dr Crnov said.
NSW DPI authorities said all four infections in the NSW Sunraysia and Riverina regions were associated with the movement of hives from Kempsey, NSW.
