Give bees a chance! Beekeepers march on Parliament to save hive populations

Blackleaf

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Oct 9, 2004
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There was also democracy in action in Britain on Monday as beekepers took to the streets.

Hundreds of beekeepers from around Britain have marched on Parliament and 10 Downing Street to present a petition to the Prime Minister to fund £8 million of bee diseases and health.

They are concerned the humble British honey bee could disappear within ten years.

Beekeepers march on Parliament to save hive populations


By Matthew Moore
04/11/2008
The Telegraph

Hundreds of beekeepers are to march through the centre of London to call for more funding for research into diseases that are devastating bee populations.

The British honey bee could disappear completely within 10 years - prompting an "economic and ecological disaster" - unless something is done, the British Beekeepers' Association (BBKA) has warned.

Demonstrators will present a petition to Downing Street calling for the Government to fund £8 million of research into bee diseases and health.

Disease has already killed off wild bees from many parts of the country and there are fears that colonies maintained by the 44,000 mostly amateur beekeepers in Britain may also be wiped out.

As well as producing honey, bees pollinate fruit and vegetable crops, contributing £165 million a year to the British economy, the BBKA claims.

Earlier this year, The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) and the Welsh Assembly announced proposals to protect honey bees in England and Wales, but campaigners say that the Government is not taking the problem as seriously as other countries.

A mystery syndrome called colony collapse disease - a disease in which disoriented bees fly out of the hive and don't return - has hit US beekeepers, prompting Washington to invest £40m on research into the problem. CCD has not yet his Britain, but beekeepers believe it is only a matter of time.

There are between 200-300 commercial beekeepers in the UK and around 44,000 who keep bees purely as a hobby.




Bee keepers march on Downing Street to increase funding



Hundreds of members of the British Beekeepers Association from across the UK are marching to 10 Downing Street to hand in a petition urging the Government to increase the amount of funding for research on bee health
Picture: AP


The association is calling for an increase from the £200,000 currently spent on bee health research each year to £1.6 million a year over the next five years


The BBKA claim that the larger contribution would still be less than 1% of the £825 million that pollination by bees will add to the agricultural economy in that time


UK beehives have been hit by the varroa mite, which weakens colonies and makes them more vulnerable to disease, on top of which bees have suffered from the wet summers


According to the association, this year's losses could have a price tag of some £54 million
Picture: EDDIE MULHOLLAND


Tim Lovett, president of the BBKA, said: "The increased funding we are asking for is a drop in the ocean compared to the billions of pounds the Government has found for bank bail-outs"


Some 90,000 of the 274,000 hives in the UK, each containing around 20,000 bees and worth some £600 a year to the economy, did not survive last year's winter


The BBKA is concerned that there is nothing to stop a repeat of last year's losses, leading to a further reduction in the insects

telegraph.co.uk
 

Scott Free

House Member
May 9, 2007
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We need to stop using so many pesticides and herbicides IMO.

As evidence I will submit that there has been no problem for organic honey farmers. The trouble seems to start when bees are placed in fields with GM crops, and frequently poisoned. I realize that is only correlated evidence but I think it should be properly investigated by real scientists not Monsanto gestapo.

There is proper evidence of what this poison does to frogs for example and so seems reasonable to speculate it is likely affecting bees.
 

GreenFish66

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Apr 16, 2008
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Where are all the bee's going?....They've went to find a better home..The queen was over thrown by all the bzzzd off worker bee's ...Too much overtime..No benefits ..No respect! lol