We just had a "Bee Symposium" put on by the Provincial Government on January 9th. All registered beekeepers were invited and the entire thing was sponsored and run by the government. Many of us were
leery as there was never any agenda, speakers list, etc. announced so many of us attending were unsure of what was going to take place (we
are talking the government here
).
It was an all day affair with meals provided
and I was incredibly surprised by the large attendance, given it was held on a weekday (Tuesday) and with iffy weather.
I am thrilled to be able to say that I was very happy with the results of the meeting.
Nova Scotia has closed it's borders to incoming bees from other provinces for 2018 (with the exception of queens, which have always been allowed). This is all done in an attempt to halt the spread of SHB from entering our province. SHB is right on our border due to the inaction of the neighbouring province. The rest of the meeting was all about recognizing and how to deal with any SHB if it is ever detected in an attempt to isolate and perhaps depopulate colonies that are positive.
It is not often I have agreed with the current Minister of Agriculture, in fact I and others have been on tv calling him out for a few years now for not acting on this issue, but even though we have luckily dodged the bullet so far, he finally acted in the just way so deserves credit.