5
NEW ZEALAND BEEKEEPER, NOVEMBER 2016
APICULTURE NEW ZEALAND APPOINTMENTS MADE TO THE STANDARDS, COMPLIANCE AND REGULATION FOCUS GROUP Apiculture New Zealand Management Team Appointments to the Apiculture New Zealand Standards, Compliance and Regulation Focus Group have been made. Chairman of the group will be Tony Wright. Tony was a member of the Bee Products Standards Council (BPSC) and is General Manager Technical at Comvita. A representative from the Ministry for Primary Industries (MPI) will also sit on the focus group. The Standards, Compliance and Regulation Focus Group will have a similar purpose to the BPSC as the representative that liaises with industry and government on standards relating to the apiculture industry. It will provide leadership, analysis and advice that contributes to the development of cost-effective sustainable standards and risk- mitigating strategies that achieve best practice in risk management and consumer protection. It will work with MPI to establish food safety and other technical standards, as well as protocols that are necessary for bee products. It will ensure delivery of efficient and practical strategic direction, policy formulation and priority setting that meets the needs of the apiculture industry. The focus group will report to the Apiculture NZ Board. The rest of the group is: Peter Bray Pam Flack Ricki Leahy John Hartnell Darren Clifford John Rawcliffe Chris Bowman Young Mee Yoon
POLICE NEED INDUSTRY’S HELP APICULTURE NEW ZEALAND New Zealand Police and Stuart Fraser, ApiNZ Board Member Recent growth in the numbers of beekeepers and hives in New Zealand’s apiculture industry, as well as the value created from the range of products from bees, has bought with it an unwanted increase in criminal activity. The obvious opportunity is hive theft.
While NZ Police are prepared and organised to work with a range of industry players to ensure this is dealt with efficiently and effectively, they need all of industry’s help to get on top of this situation. Nearly 200 reported occurrences of honey or beehive theft have occurred from July 2015 to June 2016. Combining reported honey and beehive thefts in the past 12 months, Auckland City, Central district and Northland have had the most issues. Beehive thefts alone in the central North Island have more than doubled this year, surpassing the number of reported thefts in Northland, which remains high. NZ Police are working with a number of partner agencies, such as Apiculture NZ and the Ministry of Primary Industries, to reduce the occurrence of beehive and honey thefts. This includes improvement on the intelligence held on beehives, honey and those stealing them, as well as improving investigative methods used when such occurrences do happen. A national database is being developed to improve information gathering. Similar databases exist now in specific areas. Police are concerned that under- reporting of the issue is preventing a full understanding of the scale of the issue and gathering intelligence on it. Reducing beehive thefts requires help from those within the industry and members of the public. Movement of small numbers of hives by unfamiliar or unmarked vehicles should be reported to *555 with a note of the type of vehicle, the registration number, location and direction of travel. A description of the beehives, including colour and numbers, is also helpful.
Photo supplied by New Zealand Police.
SAFETY SUGGESTIONS Police have a number of suggestions for apiarists to help ensure the safety of their hives: •where possible, keep hives in paddocks away from public view • consider using pressure pads, tracking devices, and outdoor surveillance cameras • engrave or fire-brand registration numbers into the hive and top of frames
The new group’s first meeting will be in November.
• report movement of hives to *555.
Made with FlippingBook - professional solution for displaying marketing and sales documents online