Bee Colony Collapse Mobilizes Federal Rescue Effort
WASHINGTON, DC
July 3, 2007 (ENS)

Two bills now making their way through the U.S. Senate are aimed at reversing the decline in the nation's population of honey bees.

Senator Barbara Boxer, a California Democrat, on Friday introduced the Pollinator Protection Act, a bill to increase funding for research on honey bees and native pollinators, whose numbers have been in decline in recent decades.

Senator Max Baucus, a Montana Democrat, has introduced the Pollinator Habitat Protection Act, which encourages conservation efforts to improve the health of bees in the United States.

"Managed honey bee colonies have collapsed at alarming rates, 25 percent nationwide, and scientists still have not fully discovered why. But the latest declines are part of a larger trend, with honey bee colonies down 50 percent in the past 50 years," said Boxer, who chairs the Senate Environment Committee.

A study released by the National Academy of Sciences, "Status of Pollinators in North America” found similar losses in native pollinator populations and called for increased study to determine the extent of this problem.

"Because native and honey bees pollinate so many crops, this decline, if not stopped, could impact many crops dependent on animal pollination and cause both increased prices and shortages of many food crops including almonds, avocados, cranberries, apples, and soybeans," said Boxer.

Introducing a new set of postage stamps to call attention to the beleaguered bees, Agriculture Secretary Mike Johanns said Friday that honeybee colonies have been slowly declining actually since the 1940s. "The honeybee population is absolutely critical to agricultural production, and 90 percent of our apples and blueberries are pollinated by honeybees," Johanns said. "Nearly half our peach crop depends on them, and more than 25 percent of our orange production."

Colony Collapse Disorder, or CCD, is affecting bees in 35 states, he said. It is characterized by a rapid loss of adult worker bees. Intact stores of pollen and honey are left in the colony but few or no dead bees are found. Some beekeepers reported losses in their colonies as high as 80 to 100 percent.

"If left unchecked, Colony Collapse Disorder has the potential to cause a $15 billion direct loss of crop production and $75 billion in indirect losses," Johanns said.

"CCD is causing terrible losses for beekeepers all over the country. It's a very real threat to honey production here in Montana and to many U.S. crops that need bee pollination," said Steve Park, past president of the American Honey Producers Association.

While the USDA is not sure about the cause or causes of CCD, Johanns said governemnt scientists are investigating four major areas - stress related to nutrition, transportation, and beekeepers' colony management strategy, parasite mites, pathogens like bacteria, fungi, or viruses, and pesticides.

Boxer's Pollinator Protection Act funnels funds to USDA agencies for research. It would hand $28.75 million to the USDA Agriculture Research Service over five years for research, personnel, and facility improvements relating to work on Colony Collapse Disorder, honey and native bee toxicology, pathology and physiology.

The measure would give $50 million to the Cooperative State Research, Education and Extension Service over five years to fund research grants to investigate honey and native bee immunology, biology, ecology, and other factors of pollination biology.

And $11 million over five years would be directed to the USDA Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service to conduct a nationwide honey bee pest and pathogen surveillance program.