The Buzz about the Fading Honeybees

By Erik Wharton

I learned a lot from Brian. In his backyard, with coffee and muffin in hand, I consumed as much information as I could about honeybees and their role in our lives. I learned about the organizational behaviour and cooperation of honey bees, their chemical communication, their division of tasks and the instinctual changes in roles depending on the needs of the hive. I learned about swarming behaviour and hive relocation, about their ability to regulate hive temperature by fanning their wings over drops of moisture or by sealing cracks to keep the hive warmer. I learned about the health benefits of royal jelly, bee pollen, propolis, and honey. But most importantly I learned about the honey bee's pollination process and the significant role it plays in our survival. Honey bees are the prime pollinators of the planet, directly or indirectly affecting between 50% to 80% of the worlds' food supply through their pollination. The worlds' production of food is dependant on pollination provided by the honey bees. But the population of honey bees throughout the world is in serious decline, and that has Brian Scullion and thousands of other beekeepers very worried.

The disappearance of the honeybee has international attention and is a serious enough problem to have earned its own term: Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD). In 2006 David Hackenberg, a commercial beekeeper in Pennsylvania, discovered that most of his 88 million honeybees had vanished without a trace, leaving thousands of acres of crops unpollinated. Since then, theories of a cause of CCD have ranged from cell phone towers, pesticides, malnutrition, environmental stress, mites, and viruses. Autopsies have confirmed all of these concerns, so the exact cause is unknown. Some also suggest that the practice by some commercial beekeepers in the US of breeding honey bees via artificial insemination reduces genetic diversity and decreases their resistance to diseases.

Brian Scullion of the Capital Region Beekeepers Association has been following the impact of declining bee population and the government's response. Although Vancouver Island beekeepers have experienced significant losses due to CCD, they've also had some protection from various threats to their colonies since 1988, when the BC Ministry of Agriculture imposed a quarantine limiting imports of bees and hive equipment to Vancouver Island to minimize potential threats. But this past April, the quarantine was lifted with the government arguing the need to increase diversity in the bee population on the island, a need not identified by most island beekeepers. And there is still no clear understanding of CCD and therefore no clear prevention, so most beekeepers see lifting the quarantine as a serious mistake. But as this debate goes on, the seemingly distant concerns with CCD will soon be felt personally, as we will be paying more for our groceries and other items, all because of the mysterious disappearance of an insect.

While sitting in Brian's backyard, aware of the sun, the plants, flowers and the hundreds of bees quietly going about their business, I realize this story goes beyond politics and economics. It's about an intricate symbiotic world of which we are a part and about the consequences of taking this system for granted. It's about the ease with which we can get lost in the push and pull of our daily lives and become blind to one of nature's many systems that have been working perfectly in the background for thousands of years. For me, its a reminder to appreciate the simpler things in life, like, say, honey. Thank you Brian for your time, passion for bees, and the jar of honey.