Skip to main content Skip to main navigation Skip to search

Help for those affected by flood

Visit nema.gov.au.

Close
Home

Top navigation main

  • News & media
  • Jobs
  • Minister
  • Contact us
Main menu

AWE Main

  • Agriculture and land
    Agriculture and land Building stronger and more sustainable agriculture, fisheries, forestry and land care.
    • Animal health
    • Farming, food and drought
    • Fisheries
    • Forestry
    • Climate change and agriculture
    • Plant health
    • Drought and rural support
    • Mouse infestation advice
    Xylella

    Protect against unwanted plant pests

    Our biosecurity system helps protects us. Everyone has a role in supporting our biosecurity system.

    Find out more

  • Biosecurity and trade
    Biosecurity and trade Lowering biosecurity risks to Australia, and assisting industry to accelerate growth towards a $100 billion agricultural sector by 2030.
    • Aircraft, vessels and military
    • Biosecurity policy
    • Cats and dogs
    • Exporting
    • Importing
    • Pests, diseases and weeds
    • Public awareness and education
    • Trade and market access
    • Travelling or sending goods to Australia
    Brown marmorated stink bug

    BMSB Seasonal Measures

    Australia has strengthened seasonal measures to manage the risk of BMSB.

    View our seasonal measures

  • Science and research
    Science and research Undertaking research and collecting data to support informed decisions and policies.
    • Australian Bureau of Agricultural and Resource Economics and Sciences (ABARES)
    • Our science strategy
    Abares

    ABARES Insights

    Get 'snapshots’ of agricultural, forestry and fisheries industries, or analysis of key issues.

    Find out more

  • About us
    About us We enhance our agricultural industries and trade, and manage the threat of biosecurity risks to Australia.
    • Accountability and reporting
    • Assistance, grants and tenders
    • Contact us
    • Fees and charges
    • News and media
    • Our commitment to you
    • Payments
    • People and jobs
    • Publications
    • What we do
    • Who we are
    Read more about our Budget

    Budget October 2022-23

    The 2022–23 October Portfolio Budget Statements were released on 25 October 2022.

    Find out more

  • Online services
    Online services We do business with you using online platforms. This makes it easier for you to meet your legal requirements.
Department of Agriculture

Breadcrumb

  1. Home
  2. Biosecurity and trade
  3. Pests, diseases and weeds
  4. Bees and bee pests and diseases

Sidebar first - Pests diseases weeds

  • Pests, Diseases and Weeds
    • Report a pest or disease concern
    • Animal pests and diseases
      • Avian Influenza or Bird Flu
        • Bird biosecurity
        • Global avian influenza outbreak situation update
        • Information for recreational shooters
      • Ehrlichiosis in dogs
        • Guidelines for dog owners
        • Dog rescue and rehoming
        • Travelling with your dog in Australia
        • Veterinary guidelines
      • Emergency and Exotic Animal Diseases - Bulletins and Alerts
      • Equine Influenza Inquiry - the Government's response
      • Foot-and-mouth disease
        • A review of Australia's preparedness for the threat of foot-and-mouth disease
          • National foot-and-mouth disease vaccination policy
        • Potential for wind-borne spread of FMD in Australia
        • Advice on FMD requirements within the maritime, air and mail pathways
      • International arrangements for emergency animal disease outbreaks
      • Japanese encephalitis
      • Japanese encephalitis information for veterinarians
      • Keeping African swine fever and foot-and-mouth disease out of Australia
        • Non-English speaking background communities and swill feeding project
      • Lumpy skin disease
        • Disease facts
        • Government actions
        • Livestock producers
        • Veterinarians
        • National Action Plan
      • National List of Notifiable Animal Diseases
      • National List of Reportable Diseases of Aquatic Animals
      • State and Territory Notifiable Animal Diseases lists
      • Wildlife Exotic Disease Preparedness Program
      • White nose syndrome
    • Aquatic animal diseases
    • Bees and bee pests and diseases
      • Honey bee and pollination continuity strategy
        • Statement of research and development priorities
      • Honey bees, crop pollination and varroa mite frequently asked questions
      • Status of Asian honey bee in Australia
    • Exotic weeds
    • Forests and timber: a field guide to exotic pests and diseases
    • Fruit flies in Australia
      • Managing fruit flies in Australia
        • Sterile Insect Technique use in Australia
      • The Smart Fruit Fly Management Measure
        • Fruit fly economic studies
        • Strengthening Australia’s Fruit Fly System Research Program
        • Technical and scientific projects and activities
    • Locusts
      • Australian locusts
        • Locust and grasshopper identification guide
          • Description of adults
            • 1. Australian Plague Locust: Chortoicetes terminifera
            • 2. Spur-throated locust: Austracris guttulosa
            • 3. Migratory locust: Locusta migratoria
            • 4. Small plague grasshopper: Austroicetes cruciata
            • 5. Other Austroicetes species
            • 6. Eastern plague grasshopper: Oedaleus australis
            • 7. Yellow winged locust: Gastrimargus musicus
            • 8. Bermius brachycelus and other Bermius species
            • 9. Giant or Hedge grasshopper: Valanga irregularis
            • 10. Heteropternis obscurella
            • 11. Peakesia hospita and other species
            • 12. Urnisa guttulosa
            • 13. Aiolopus thalassinus
            • 14. Caledia captiva
            • 15. Wingless grasshopper: Phaulacridium vittatum
          • Description of nymphs
            • 1. Australian Plague Locust: Chortoicetes terminifera (nymph)
            • 2. Spur-throated locust: Austracris guttulosa (nymph)
            • 3. Migratory locust: Locusta migratoria (nymph)
            • 4. Small plague grasshopper: Austroicetes cruciata (nymph)
            • 5. Other Austroicetes species (nymph)
            • 6. Eastern plague grasshopper: Oedaleus australis (nymph)
            • 7. Yellow winged locust: Gastrimargus musicus (nymph)
            • 8. Bermius brachycelus and other Bermius species (nymph)
            • 9. Giant or Hedge grasshopper: Valanga irregularis (nymph)
            • 10. Heteropternis obscurella (nymph)
            • 11. Peakesia hospita and other species (nymph)
            • 12. Urnisa guttulosa (nymph)
            • 13. Aiolopus thalassinus (nymph)
            • 14. Caledia captiva (nymph)
            • 15. Wingless grasshopper: Phaulacridium vittatum (nymph)
        • About locusts
        • Australian plague locust
        • History of locust and grasshopper outbreaks in Australia
        • Links to related websites
        • Migratory locust
        • Spur throated locust
      • Current locust situation
      • Role of the Australian Plague Locust Commission
        • APLC documents
        • Area of operation
        • APLC activities
        • APLC Commissioners
      • Information for landholders
        • APLC strategic control - commencing or ceasing operations
        • APLC offices and contacts
        • Locust control agents-livestock and crop residues
        • Reporting locusts
      • Locust bulletins
        • Terms and Descriptions used in the Locust Bulletin
    • Marine pests
      • Marine Pest Sectoral Committee
      • Review of National Marine Pest Biosecurity
        • Marine pest network
      • Emergency Marine Pest Plan
    • Pest animals and weeds in Australia
      • Supporting Communities Manage Pest Animals and Weeds Program
      • Supporting Australia’s regions to manage established pest animals and weeds
      • Control tools and technologies for established pest animals and weeds competitive grants programme
      • Environment and Invasives Committee
      • Funding innovation to tackle pest animals and weeds
      • National Carp Control Plan
    • Plant pests and diseases
      • National action plans
      • Barley stripe rust
      • Begomoviruses and vectors
      • Brown marmorated stink bug
      • Citrus canker
      • Cyst nematodes of grains and vegetables
      • Exotic bees
      • Exotic stem borers of sugarcane
      • Exotic tree nematodes
      • Fire blight
      • Fruit flies
      • Giant African snail
      • Myrtle rust
      • Grape phylloxera
      • Spongy moths
      • Hessian flies
      • Huanglongbing
      • Internal and external mites of bees
      • Khapra beetle
        • Urgent actions to protect against khapra beetle
          • Requirements for high-risk plant products to protect against khapra beetle
          • Requirements for other-risk plant products to protect against khapra beetle
          • Requirements for sea containers to protect against khapra beetle
          • Requirements for seeds for sowing to protect against khapra beetle
        • Khapra beetle in imported goods
        • Khapra beetle bulletin
        • The khapra beetle story
      • Karnal bunt
      • Leaf miner
      • Panama disease tropical race 4
      • Plum pox virus
      • Potato cyst nematode
      • Potato late blight
      • Sudden oak death
      • Xylella and exotic vectors
        • International Symposium on Xylella fastidiosa
      • Tobamoviruses
      • Exotic invasive ants
      • Ug99
      • Wheat stem sawfly
      • Zebra chip
    • Protect your animals and plants from pests and disease
      • Biosecurity engagement
      • Bird biosecurity
        • Avian Influenza (bird flu)
        • Bird flu and our health
        • National Biosecurity Manual - Exhibition poultry
        • National Farm Biosecurity Manual - Poultry production
        • Protect your birds against bird flu and diseases
        • National Water Biosecurity Manual - Poultry production
      • Plate it. Don’t plant it.
      • Vital information for travelling farm workers
      • Biosecurity videos and audio
      • Biosecurity and farmers' markets

Bees and bee pests and diseases

​​​​The Australian honey bee industry is composed of about 13,000 registered beekeepers. Around 1,300 of these are considered to be commercial apiarists, each with more than 50 hives.

The European honey bee contributes directly to the Australian economy with the industry valued at around $100 million per annum with total honey production ranging between 20-25,000 tonnes each year.

Honey bees also contribute to the productivity of many horticultural and seed crops, by providing essential pollination services that improve crop yield and quality. Pollination services have been estimated to contribute between $620 and $1,730 million to the value of Australian agricultural production per annum.

Varroa mite – the major threat to Australia’s honey bee and honey bee crop pollination plant industries

Australia is one of the few countries in the world to remain free of varroa mite (Varroa destructor). If varroa mite were to become established in Australia our healthy population of honey bees, and the pollination services they provide, could be reduced by 90-100 per cent. Restrictions may be put in place on the movement of hives to limit the spread of varroa, which could reduce the availability of hives in some regions. The effects would be significant for apiarists, who would face higher costs to manage their hives, and producers of crops such as almonds, apples and cherries that rely on pollination from bees.

Our department has developed a continuity strategy to ensure that the honey bee and honey bee pollination responsive crop industries, research organisations and all Australian governments are prepared and able to effectively manage an incursion should the varroa mite become established in Australia.

Honey bee pests and diseases

While varroa mite is the leading biosecurity threat, honey bees may be affected by a range of pests and diseases including:

  • Tropilaelaps mite (Tropilaelaps clareae)
  • Tracheal mite (Acarapis woodi)
  • Braula fly (Braula caeca)
  • American foulbrood (Bacillus larvae)
  • European foulbrood (Melissococus pluton)
  • Leafcutter bee chalkbrood (Ascosphaera aggregata)
  • Small hive beetle (Aethina tumida)
  • Stonebrood (Aspergillus falvum and A. fumigatus)

Preventing the entry of exotic pests and diseases

Our department undertakes a range of activities to try to prevent the entry of varroa mite and other pests and diseases including:

  • surveillance outside Australia through the International Plant Health Surveillance Program, with our staff developing and implementing measures for the early detection of targeted pests and diseases
  • inspections of people, mail parcels, baggage, ships, animals, plants and cargo containers by our staff to help prevent the entry into Australia of foreign bees and any pests and diseases they carry
  • surveillance within Australia to detect any incursions to enable the pest or disease to be destroyed before it becomes established or restrict its spread.

Detecting incursions of exotic pests and diseases

The National Bee Pest Surveillance Program (part of the National Bee Biosecurity Program) is an early warning system to detect new incursions of exotic bee pests and pest bees. The program involves a range of surveillance methods conducted at locations considered to be the most likely entry point of bee pests and pest bees throughout Australia. Plant Health Australia (PHA), at a national level, coordinates and administers the program, which is jointly funded by the Australian Honey Bee Industry Council (AHBIC), Apples and Pears Ltd, Avocadoes Australia, Raspberries and Blackberries Australia, Strawberries Australia, AusVeg, Almond Board of Australia, Dried Prunes sector, Australian Macadamia Society, Onions Australia, Grain Producers of Australia and the Australian Government through Horticulture Innovation Australia Ltd.

Through the Agricultural Competitiveness White Paper, the Australian Government has provided a further $587,000 to enhance the successful National Bee Pest Surveillance Program. The funding will contribute to virus diagnostics and surveillance, increase Asian honey bee surveillance, improve remote catch-boxes in remote locations or areas of high risk, and trial Asian hornet traps at key ports. The White Paper is the government’s plan for stronger farmers and a stronger economy.

Improving the management of established pests and diseases

AHBIC and PHA have worked to establish a National Bee Biosecurity Program. The purpose of this program is to improve the management of established pests and diseases, as well as increase the preparedness and surveillance of exotic pest threats of the honey bee industry. The Program will be underpinned by a beekeeping Code of Practice, a Bee Biosecurity Officer in each state to conduct inspections, as well as educate and train beekeepers in biosecurity best practice. Through a statutory industry biosecurity levy paid by bee keepers, the industry is investing around $400,000 per annum in the program.

Protecting your honey bees

If exotic honey bee parasites and pests enter Australia, early detection will be crucial in limiting their spread and impact on the Australian honey bee industry. All beekeepers (including commercial and backyard beekeepers) have a significant role in recognising and reporting any suspected infestation by varroa mite (or other pests and diseases).

Know what to look for. If you suspect the presence of varroa, immediately:

  • phone the Exotic Plant Pest Hotline: free call 1800 084 881
  • implement appropriate controls
  • follow any biosecurity instructions in the event of an incursion
  • don’t try to bypass biosecurity controls aimed at protecting the industry.

It may be necessary to confirm a field diagnosis with laboratory tests. Apiary officers in all states and territories can provide advice on the correct procedures.

Research and development

The agriculture portfolio’s investment in research and development for the honey bee industry is managed by RIRDC. RIRDC has commissioned a range of research projects aimed at improving the management of established bee pests and diseases and improving the prospects of detecting and eradicating exotic pests and diseases before they establish.

More information, including research currently underway and reports from completed projects, is available on RIRDC's Honey Bee and Pollination Program website.

In July 2016 a consortium of partners, led by RIRDC, were granted $5.255 million from Round two of the Rural R&D for Profit programme for the project ‘Securing Pollination for More Productive Agriculture: Guidelines for effective pollinator management and stakeholder adoption’. The project will realise significant productivity and profitability gains for farmers by improving yield and rates of pollination. The project will assess the contribution of pollinators to nine crops, re-establish native vegetation to support pollinator food and nesting resources, and use new technologies to communicate the findings to crop farmers.

In June 2016 Hort Innovation launched a significant pollination research investment fund to increase crop quality and yields through more effective pollination and alternate pollinators. Supported with Australian Government funding, the fund comprises multiple projects being delivered in partnership with co-investors such as research institutions, government agencies or international and commercial enterprises. More information about research currently underway is available on Hort Innovation’s Pollination Fund webpage.

Scientists at the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) are playing a role in global research networks to better understand the causes of declining bee health in many parts of the world. More recent innovation by CSIRO scientists has led to enormous improvement in microsensor technology for tracking bees in and around hives and the opportunity for new insights into hive health and bee response to diseases or chemicals. More information on this work is available from the CSIRO website.

A range of research groups based at Australian universities are also studying honey bee health. Some of these research groups are:

  • The Centre for Integrative Bee Research at the University of Western Australia
  • The Social Insects Lab at the University of Sydney

Many of Australia’s northern neighbours harbour major mite pests—Tropilaelaps clareae, Varroa jacobsoni and V. destructor—that could cause significant damage to our honey bee population. The Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research (ACIAR) has funded research, with CSIRO as the commissioned organisation, on these pests for about 15 years, making a significant contribution to a better understanding of the mites and their host conditions.

These projects, carried out in Australia, Indonesia, Papua New Guinea and the Philippines, have substantially increased understanding about these pests, to the extent that the picture of their spread and the risks they pose is better understood. There are two major benefits from the research: to beekeeping through better understanding of mite control methods; and to biosecurity procedures through better understanding of the true nature of the risks posed by the mites.

Agricultural chemical regulation

The Australian Pesticides and Veterinary Medicines Authority (APVMA) is the statutory agency responsible for assessing and registering agricultural chemicals for use in Australia.

The APVMA is aware of concerns that insecticides, especially those of the neonicotinoid class, may be contributing to a decline in honey bee populations in Europe and the United States. The APVMA has completed a report (Overview report – Neonicotinoids and the health of honey bees in Australia) on the issues relating to honey bee health in Australia, with a particular focus on the use of neonicotinoid insecticides.

The APVMA’s report concluded that there is lack of consensus in the scientific literature on the causes of regional declines in honey bee populations in Europe and the United States. A wide range of possible causes are being actively investigated including pesticides, parasites, viruses, climate change, bee nutrition, lack of genetic diversity, and beekeeping practices.

Australia is working internationally through the OECD Pesticides and Pollinators Working Group and the Society of Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry to develop expanded test methods and guidelines for assessing the effect of pesticides on insect pollinators. These expanded methods assess the possible sub-lethal effects of some pesticides on honey bees at very low concentrations (one part per billion and less).

Further information

The BeeAware website is a hub of information for beekeepers and growers about honey bee biosecurity and pollination of agricultural and horticultural crops.

The site contains an extensive range of information about exotic and established pests and diseases of honey bees, and helps beekeepers to identify and respond to these pest threats. It also contains information about the pollination of crops and how beekeepers and growers can work together to provide and receive best practice pollination services.

BeeConnected is a user-driven smart-phone app that enables collaboration between beekeepers, farmers and spray service contractors to facilitate best-practice pollinator protection. It was developed by Croplife Australia in partnership with the Australian Honey Bee Industry Council.

World Bee Day banner image "Get ready for World Bee Day today!"

World Bee Day 2021

This year the department celebrated World Bee Day on Thursday 19 May 2021.

Bees are essential to maintaining the health of our agricultural industry and the environment.

It is important to reflect on the role bees play in our ecosystem and how we can support them to become resistant to pests such as the varroa mite.

Have a listen to my podcast with the 2019 AgriFutures Rural Women’s Award National Runner-Up, Claire Moore about her work to breed bio-secure queen bees!

Jo Grainger
Agriculture Minister Counsellor – Brussels

World Bee Day Podcast with Claire Moore

 

  • Transcript DOC [74 KB]

General enquiries

Call 1800 900 090

Contact us online

Report a biosecurity concern

Thanks for your feedback.
Thanks! Your feedback has been submitted.

We aren't able to respond to your individual comments or questions.
To contact us directly phone us or submit an online inquiry

CAPTCHA
This question is for testing whether or not you are a human visitor and to prevent automated spam submissions.

Please verify that you are not a robot.

Skip

Footer

  • Contact us
  • Accessibility
  • Disclaimer
  • Privacy
  • FOI
Last updated: 10 October 2021

© Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry

We acknowledge the Traditional Owners of country throughout Australia and recognise their continuing connection to land, waters and culture. We pay our respects to their Elders past, present and emerging.