Bees are dropping like flies as Canadian beekeepers struggle to find out what's causing a collapse in their $1.2-billion industry.

Losses across the country are piling up and beekeepers are facing tough times, industry officials say, especially in an economy where honey is selling at prices below actual production costs.

While early indications point to unusual weather patterns and disease, there is no one common link to the high levels of bee mortality. In some cases, colonies weathered the winter in one area while a neighbouring beekeeper was hit hard.

"We haven't seen such high losses before across the country," says Heather Clay, national co-ordinator for the Calgary-based Canadian Honey Council (CHC). "We've seen it in pockets, but nothing on this scale."

Philip Dobranski photo
courtesy of British Columbia Honey Producers Association The Canadian Honey Council has developed a 23-point action plan to help beekeepers battle the high levels of bee losses.

Overall, the national average of overwintering mortality has almost doubled over last year to 29 per cent, with Ontario registering 28,379 dead colonies (or 37 per cent); Saskatchewan at 24,000 (24); Manitoba at 22,950 (27) and British Columbia at 11,308 (23).

The colonies appear to suffer first from a primary malady, such as poor nutrition, unusually cold weather, mite infestation, bacteria or other non-life-threatening illness, says John Gibeau, president of the British Columbia Honey Producers Association. Then the colony dies from a secondary illness that attacks during the weakened state.

"That secondary illness has not yet been discovered, and may be a simple pathogen, such as a new virus," says Gibeau.

The one bright spot is that colony collapse disorder (CCD), prevalent in the United States, where a sudden large-scale die-off of adult bees occurs, is unlikely to be a cause for concern in Canada. CCD has yet to be diagnosed in Canada, says Gibeau.

New Brunswick has been hardest hit by bee colony losses over winter, losing 59 per cent this past winter - the average for overwintering losses of bee colonies in Canada is just 15 per cent - or 4,990 dead bee colonies. In Alberta, home to the largest number of bee colonies in the country, the percentage is lower at 31 per cent, but it registered the highest actual number of dead bee colonies at 77,500 during the same period.

To deal with the situation, the CHC has developed a 23-point action plan.

Clay says the plan calls for:

* Improved monitoring of bee colonies.

* The establishment of a national bee lab for testing and research.

* Lobbying the federal government for at least one additional national apiculture research position with full technical support.

* Expanding provincial inspection programs to include both fall and spring.

* Assistance/disaster relief programs for beekeepers at both the provincial and federal levels.

* A comprehensive professional development program for beekeepers that would consist of courses in business and livestock management, accreditation, and good practices recognition.

One of the first moves will be an information brochure for beekeepers on the monitoring and treatment of pests and parasites. "Right now we need to get the information out and make sure that all beekeepers get the same information," says Clay.

Clay adds that more research at the federal level is vital, and the CHC is lobbying for a pollination ecologist position - honeybees are vital to the canola seed production industry - and for more research dollars. "We were lobbying before (the bee colony losses) and are lobbying harder now," she says.

In Ontario and New Brunswick, provincial governments have stepped in with financial assistance for the hard-hit sector.

Ontario has set up the $2.4-million Special Beekeepers Fund to provide direct compensation to beekeepers who suffered higher than normal hive losses this past winter. The province is adding an additional $600,000 for research, technology transfer and the promotion of Ontario honey.

The Ontario Beekeepers Association calls the funds a good start, especially for beekeepers in the Niagara and the Haldimand-Norfolk areas - just west of the Niagara - that were some of the hardest hit by hive losses.

"I think it's fantastic that they (the province of Ontario) kicked in their $3 million, which will help out a lot," says Danny Walker, president of the Ontario Beekeepers Association.

"But there's still some guys who could still use some help - some of these guys will spend as much as they can to get back on their feet. An equal match from the federal government is well-warranted for us and the (beekeepers in the) other provinces as well."

Walker says he sold honey this winter for a third of what he got in 2002, the best year for prices due to a world honey shortage.

"The wholesale price was around $2 a pound then, now it's 75 cents a pound," says Walker. "(Today) it costs us $1.25 to produce a pound of honey that we only get 75 cents for."

New Brunswick has announced $100,000 as a first step to help beekeepers rebuild their colonies.

However, no additional funding has been set aside in Alberta, and that concerns Kevin Nixon, president of the Alberta Beekeepers Commission (ABC).

"We are seeing extremely high losses," says Nixon. "We've had two years in a row of low honey prices and beekeepers being hit with a huge loss. We can't just call up a supplier in April and say, '30 per cent of my bees are dead and can we get new bees?' "We can only get new bees from New Zealand and Australia, and those usually have to be ordered in January to receive them by springtime."

With about 240,000 hives - or 40 per cent of Canada's bee colonies - and the largest honey production, as well as the largest pollination sector in Canada for canola, Alberta remains on the sidelines, says Nixon.

"Everything that has taken place so far has gone very slowly. They (the province) don't seem to have any major concerns about it," says Nixon.

Paul Laflamme, head of the pest management branch of Alberta Agriculture and Food, says the province is still analysing results from a provincial survey about overwintering losses.

"One of the oddities that we saw was that we could have a large producer with two yards, one would be devastated with an 80-per-cent loss, the other would be fine with normal losses of about 10 per cent," he says.

"That really threw a monkey wrench in trying to find out what the problem was. We're speculating the long winter we had - it came early and stayed late - plus a cool wet spring made it more difficult for the bees to recover from the long winter."

Laflamme hopes to have all the data analysed and a report by August, but adds he does not know of any new funding in the works.

He notes beekeepers can turn to existing compensation provided by the Canada Alberta Income Stabilization Program and the Alberta Financial Services Corp. But Nixon says such programs are inadequate for beekeepers who have been hit with high colony losses.

Saskatchewan Beekeepers Association president Tim Wendell says losses in the province varied this year with some beekeepers losing 80 per cent of their colonies and others just 10 per cent.

"It looks like it was a resistant mite, something that happens after a time if you're using a specific mite treatment," he says. "It's my experience that when you have winter losses, it generally points to some form of management issue - mites grow resistant very rapidly."

But while Wendell is concerned about colony loss, he says there's an even bigger issue - cheap imported honey that is sold in this country under the Canada No. 1 brand, which is a grade name and doesn't reflect the honey's origins.

"That Canada No. 1 honey may not have any Canadian honey in it," he says.

But the CHC's Clay says there is good news on this particular front after years of lobbying for change.

"The current (federal) government is working with us on getting the changes," she says, adding in the future, the Canada No. 1 honey brand will only be used on 100-per-cent Canadian honey.

(Laura Severs can be reached at laura@businessedge.ca)