Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, July 27, 1990 TAG: 9007270165
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A2 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: WESLACO, TEXAS LENGTH: Medium
State agriculture inspectors from 32 states turned out for a four-day Africanized bee conference, which opened Wednesday in Weslaco, about 10 miles from the Mexican border.
Some said they expect their states eventually to be infested, either by the bees migrating naturally, or being transported as stowaways on ships or truck trailers.
"With modern transportation, it's conceivable that a swarm could stow away on a ship and establish itself in Hawaii," said Kenneth Teramoto, chief of biological control of plant pests with the state of Hawaii's Department of Agriculture. "We'll find out what Texas and some of the other states are going to do about the Africanized honey bee and we'll set up a state plan,"
Robert Mitchell, state apiarist for the Delaware Department of Agriculture, said he came to Weslaco to learn more about the Texas Africanized honey bee management plan. He said his state is preparing for the eventual arrival of the aggressive bees either by ship or truck.
Other states represented at the conference included those as distant as Washington and Vermont.
Twenty-two swarms of Africanized bees have been found and destroyed since 1979 at U.S. ports aboard ships from Latin America. The most recent swarm was found at the Port of Houston earlier this month in the hold of a ship from Mexico.
The hard-to-manage bees eventually are expected to cost U.S. beekeepers as much as $58 million per year, according to the USDA. Expected drops in bee-pollinated crop production could cost U.S. farmers as much as $40 million per year.
Most attending the symposium co-sponsored by the National Association of State Departments of Agriculture and Texas A&M University are involved in regulating honey bees in their states.
by CNB