University law research to help honeybees
The health and welfare of UK honeybees are under threat from a combination of pests, pathogens and pesticides. Yet some of the problems facing honeybees and leading to the collapse of many hives may be made worse if there are not adequate laws and regulations in place to protect them.
Now the University of Greenwich has launched a new research programme to review the current legal framework relating to bee conservation and biosecurity across the UK.
Honeybees do not only produce honey and wax. They are valuable pollinators for our crops and play an essential role in sustaining our environment. While we have commercial honey farmers in the UK, we have many thousands of people keeping honeybees as a hobby which has become very fashionable, she says.
There is no legal requirement to register as a beekeeper in the UK but we know that more than 17,000 people have registered voluntarily with the British Beekeepers Association.
Bee colonies across the world have been declining as a result of a combination of problems including pests and diseases such as varroa, a parasitic mite which is now endemic in the UK, foul brood and small hive beetle.
Bees are regularly imported, exported and moved around the world. Part of my research will include reviewing the laws and procedures governing the import of bees into the UK through the European Union and beyond, as well as the movement of bees across England and Wales.
I will be looking closely at the statutory regulations around hive inspections and the reporting of bee and hive pests and diseases including the procedures and obligations for beekeepers to report diseases within their own colonies.
Dr Outhwaite will be presenting her initial findings in September and providing details of her research to The National Bee Unit, part of the governments Food and Environment Research Agency (FERA).