Scottish Beekeepers Association - Register and keep apiaries up to date in BeeBase

Scottish Beekeepers' Association
Supporting Scotland's Bees and Beekeepers

Scotland's New Honey Bee Health Strategy For 2022-2032

The Strategy was published on the 30th of June, and has been developed in conjunction with the Bee Health Improvement Partnership (BHIP). It has taken into account the review of the previous strategy and the results of the recent Scottish Government honey bee health survey. To download the Strategy please click here or on the image above.

Its main aim is “Working in partnership to achieve a healthy and sustainable population of honey bees in Scotland”.

The strategy details five pillars which will outline the ways of working which we will base our actions over the next 10 years:

1. Education, Training and Knowledge Transfer

2. Communication and partnership working across government, operational partners, stakeholders and all of those with an interest in honey bees in Scotland

3. Pest and Disease surveillance, prevention, diagnosis, and control

4. Research and Development.

5. On-going review of the regulatory framework

The Strategy will be the overarching document which will be accompanied by an Implementation Plan. This will be a ‘living’ document detailing more specifically the actions which the BHIP will deliver in order to achieve the desired outcomes for honey bee health in Scotland. The Plan will be updated regularly following quarterly BHIP meetings and published on the Scottish Government website on our Bee Health pages.

Additional background information and previous publications:

· Scotland’s first 10 year Honey Bee Health Strategy (Published June 2010)

· Review of the first 10 year strategy (Published October 2021)

· Honey Bee Heath Strategy Survey Report 2022 (Published March 2022)

Any additional questions should be directed to the Scottish Government’s Bee Health Team at: Bees_mailbox@gov.scot

Register and keep apiaries up to date in BeeBase

Dear all,

Scottish Government bee inspectors are currently following up several localised foulbrood outbreaks across Scotland and we would like to remind you all of the importance of registering and keeping apiary locations up to date in BeeBase to assist us with controlling disease.

Registration in BeeBase is currently voluntary; however, it is the best available tool we have for identifying hives and apiaries which might have been in contact with foulbrood disease.

Whilst the majority of beekeepers are registered and keep their records up to date in BeeBase, there are still some beekeepers who are not doing so. Registration in BeeBase is free, quick and easy, and please let me assure you that is secure.

Being able to identify all contact colonies is vitally important for any disease control effort. BeeBase identifies all registered beekeepers and apiaries within a radius of a positive case of foulbrood and sends an alert email to those within 3km.

Those within 3km of a positive apiary will receive, as soon as possible, an inspection by the bee inspectors. This is because the risk of their bees having been in contact with infected colonies is inversely proportional to the distance to the infected apiaries, i.e. the closer your apiary is to an infected site, the higher the possibility of contact, for example, through swarm collection or robbing weak infected colonies.

If beekeepers are not registered in BeeBase, or their apiary locations are not up to date, we are unable to identify them as at risk and they might remain infected as a point of permanent re-infection for all beekeepers in that area. Time may also be lost trying to arrange inspections for apiaries which are no longer active, putting extra strain on our limited resources.

Therefore please could we ask you that you:

• Register in BeeBase if not currently registered.

• De-register from BeeBase when you stop beekeeping.

• Keep your current apiary locations up to date.

• Mark as non-current those apiaries which you no longer use.

• Keep your number of hives as up to date as possible for each apiary.

And of course, if at any time you suspect any signs of notifiable disease, please contact us at bees_mailbox@gov.scot

From the Bee Health Improvement Team we would like to thank you for your cooperation and playing your part in keeping Scotland’s bees free of notifiable diseases and pests.

Together we can make a difference!

Best Regards,
Luis Molero Lopez.
Lead Bee Inspector for the Scottish Government.