Varroa frequently asked questions

• Movement is permitted within and out of the Suppression Zone without a Hive Movement Declaration.
• Your hive health is your responsibility.
• All beekeepers in NSW are required to complete hive testing every 16 weeks (alcohol washing, soapy water wash, sugar shake or miticide strip and sticky mat) and report positive results to DPI on the day of testing, and negative results to DPI within 7 days.
• Report your surveillance results here

• Moving bees and hives out of the Management Control Zone is permitted provided you:
  • Complete a surveillance action within 14 days before the movement
  • If Varroa mite is detected, treat for 48 hours before the movement
  • Submit a Hive Movement Declaration before the move.
  • Ensure the person transporting the bees or hives has a copy of the completed hive movement declaration while bees or hives are in transit.
  • Beekeepers must keep record of the movement for 5 years
• All beekeepers in NSW are required to complete hive testing every 16 weeks (alcohol washing, soapy water wash, sugar shake or miticide strip and sticky mat) and report positive results to DPI on the day of testing, and negative results to DPI within 7 days.
• Report your surveillance results here
• Movement of apiary equipment out of the Management Control Zone is permitted once cleaned and free of any bee material and live bees.
• Movement between Management Zones may be allowed under a Biosecurity Emergency Movement Permit.

• All beekeepers in NSW are required to complete hive testing every 16 weeks (alcohol washing, soapy water wash, sugar shake or miticide strip and sticky mat) and report positive results to DPI on the day of testing, and negative results to DPI within 7 days.
• Report your surveillance results here
• Records of each surveillance activity must be kept for five years, which consist of the time and date the surveillance activity was completed, the approximate location of the hives for which the surveillance action was conducted, and the number of Varroa mite detected by the surveillance action in each tested hive.
• When moving bees and hives beekeepers need to be aware of and meet the requirements specific to the type of move. Find out more about movement of bees and hives here.

Beekeepers in Management Control zones who are considering starting up their hives again should consider the high likelihood that their hives could become infested with Varroa.

If you do restart your hives, NSW DPI website has a wealth of information on the importance of Integrated Pest Management (IPM) and managing overall hive health, including treatment thresholds for Varroa management depending on colony phase.  For more information visit the Managing your hives with Varroa page.

The Wild European Honey Bee Management Program has completed baiting activities and all feeder stations have been decommissioned. With the transition to management staff have successfully completed a number of research projects to assist the beekeeping industry. This has included verification of no residual fipronil in hives affected by the baiting program and the testing the effectiveness of drone ballooning as a chemical free and non-invasive method of varroa mite surveillance.

The deadline for registered beekeepers in former red eradication zone to opt-in to have their hives euthanised by NSW DPI in order to apply for owner reimbursement costs (ORC) has now passed.

NSW DPI is working towards the deadline for ORC payments by the end of December 2023, and the Response needs to allow for enough time to complete hive euthanasia and disposal as well as process new and existing ORC claims prior to the December deadline. NSW DPI is prioritising the disposal of those opt-in hives as well as working to expediate ORC payments, but we understand delays to date have been frustrating for beekeepers.  NSW DPI encourages beekeepers to ensure they complete and submit their Acknowledgement and ORC forms as soon as possible to minimise potential processing delays.

Beekeepers from Suppression Control Zones in NSW wishing to move empty hive equipment north over the border can now apply to Biosecurity Queensland.

Biosecurity Queensland advise they have recommenced issuing permits for the movement of empty hives and hive parts for irradiation.

The Queensland Government are also continuing to assess other low risk movements such as the transport of full and empty supers into the state.

On submission of a permit a Biosecurity Officer from the department will contact applicants and advise if the application has been successful and the conditions of the permit.

To apply for a Queensland carrier permit application, visit  Varroa mite carrier permit application (arcgis.com)

Varroa mite was first detected in DPI surveillance hives at the Port of Newcastle in June 2022. The Varroa mite Response was established immediately thereafter, and became a national response funded and supported by Commonwealth and state and territory governments as well as contributing industries.

On 19 September 2023, the National Management Group (made up of all states, the Commonwealth and 16 industry partners) reached a decision that eradication was no longer technically feasible the response moved from an eradication program to a management approach.

On 13 February 2024 the National Management Group (NMG) approved the next phase of the national Transition to Management (T2M)plan for Varroa mite. The T2M plan aims to increase resilience and minimise ongoing impacts of varroa mite naturalisation across Australia’s bee and pollination-dependent industries.

The mite is still contained to NSW, and the response to date has enabled a detailed understanding of the spread and risk of new detections.

The NSW Government is working with all the national stakeholders to reallocate resources to slow the spread of the pest and providing management options to help minimise its impact.

The NMG considered the following major factors for why eradication had not reached its desired objectives:

• The number of new detections in Kempsey in the later part of 2023 and subsequent movements from Kempsey, made it clear that the Varroa mite infestation was more widespread and had also been present for longer  than first thought.
• The increase in new detections and the subsequent expansion of the Eradication Emergency Zone to greater than 17,800km² had stretched the eradication team’s responses to its technical limit.

When Varroa mite was first detected in sentinel hives in June 2022, the infestation was assessed as being technically feasible to eradicate, and so an eradication response commenced.  

The NMG agreed the most appropriate course of action was to first undertake to eradicate Varroa mite because of the impacts it could potentially have on primary industries in NSW and across Australia.

The NMG considered learnings from across the world in deciding on the response in Australia.

Following the decision on 19 September 2023 to no longer focus on eradication of Varroa mite in Australia, work commenced on a National Management Plan for Transition to Management.

On 12 February 2024 the National Management Group (NMG) approved the next phase of the national Transition to Management (T2M)plan for Varroa mite. The T2M plan aims to increase resilience and minimise ongoing impacts of varroa mite naturalisation across Australia’s bee and pollination-dependent industries.

A new Control Order is now in place.

The whole state is either in a Suppression Control Zone or Management Control Zone. The only Management Control Zones are in the Kempsey, Hunter and Central Coast regions (i.e. the former Emergency Eradication Zones in these regions).

The rest of the state (including regional outlier Emergency Eradication Zones such as those in Gumble, Cuttabri, Somerton, Harparary, Coffs region, pollination zones in the south, Taree and Barcoongere) are in the Suppression Control Zone.

Mandatory euthanising of hives will immediately ceased following the decision by the NMG to move to management.

The cut-off for beekeepers with hives in the previous Emergency Eradication (Red) Zone to opt-in to have their hives euthanised in order to apply for owner reimbursement costs (ORC) has now passed.

The Wild European Honeybee Management Program ceased the widespread use of fipronil immediately, and all bait stations  re-deployed as a surveillance mechanism to track Varroa mite loads in Wild European Honey Bees.

NSW DPI compliance team has been working with industry and NSW Police to ensure compliance in movements of hives since the beginning of the response.

There are currently 18 open investigations of illegal activity, and 35 penalty notices have been issued.

Through the response, more than 600 high risk beekeepers have been identified, investigated and interviewed, with 108 of these proceeding to high level investigations.

As at the time of the decision to transition to management of Varroa mite, the emergency response team in NSW had:

• Conducted surveillance on more than 30,000 hives
• Removed more than 27,000 hives from red eradication zones
• Established more than 1100 wild bee baiting stations across the current eradication zones to remove infested colonies and prevent further spread.

Over 2000 people across 13 agencies and industry have committed over 552,000 work hours (approximately 63 years).

Nationally, $101 million has been spent so far across the response.