US honey bee keepers lose 42% of colonies

US honey bee keepers lost 42 percent of their colonies in the past year, the second highest annual loss recorded to date, according to a preliminary report this week.

The losses from April 2014 to April 2015 are considered too high to be sustainable -- as they have been every year since 2006, said the findings by the Bee Informed Partnership, in collaboration with the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA).

The report raised new concern about the loss of honey bees, important pollinators of key crops like almonds and apples.

"Such high colony losses in the summer and year-round remain very troubling," said Jeff Pettis, co-author of the survey and  a senior entomologist at the USDA's Agricultural Research Service.

"If beekeepers are going to meet the growing demand for pollination services, researchers need to find better answers to the host of stresses that lead to both winter and summer colony losses."

Honey bees have been dying in large numbers in recent years for reasons that remain poorly understood.

Mites, parasites, disease, pesticides and pollution have all been blamed for the syndrome known as colony collapse disorder.

The European Union has banned three major classes of pesticides known as neonicotinoids on the basis that they are dangerous to bee health.

However, the United States continues to allow their use.

"These dire honey bee numbers add to the consistent pattern of unsustainable bee losses in recent years that threatens our food system," said Tiffany Finck-Haynes, food futures campaigner with Friends of the Earth.

"The science is clear. We must take action now to protect these essential pollinators from bee-toxic pesticides."

The White House is expected to release a plan for bee protection soon.

In June 2014, President Barack Obama called for a federal strategy to protect pollinators.

Last month the Environmental Protection Agency declared a moratorium on new or expanded uses of neonicotinoids until it can complete an evaluation of the risks to pollinators.

The preliminary report on colony loss in 2014 and 2015 was released on Wednesday, but officials cautioned that the figures are likely to change before a final report is submitted for publication in a peer-reviewed journal later this year.

The highest annual loss that the report has documented was 45 percent in 2012-2013. Some 34 percent of hives were lost from 2013 to 2014.
Source: AFP