Feral infested hive found near Super Ferry

I guess now all hives near ports and the airports need
to be exterminated ("zoosanitary"?). I have received a
copy of the following email complaint to the
legislature on the "HDOA" from a beekeeper volunteer.
What's HDOA? Don't know... Sounds like Hawaii
Department of Agriculture...

"Subject: This hive was positive for Varroa mites in
downtown and the Super Ferry is in port

"Aloha Senator Tokuda, Representative Tsuji et colleg:
Last Tuesday afternoon, November 26, we removed a large
hive of bees from a pipe flange on the roof of 206
Merchant Street, which is literally a stone's throw
from where the Super Ferry was berthed at the time. . .
and had been berthed for about 2 weeks.

"Our concern is that feral colonies close to any port
or airport, such as this one, were to have been removed
physically or through the use of attractant or
toxicant-baited traps, by the HDOA long ago. If the
HDOA is actually conducting active monitoring and
surveillance, and if an effective trapping and
extermination program is in place, there should be no
more feral colonies in the zoosanitary cordon zones
around these sensitive facilities. Whatever the HDOA
claims to be doing, it is not preventing feral hives
from existing in, and swarms from entering into, and
the sanitary cordon around our ports and airports.

"I request that the leadership in the House and Senate
agriculture committees, together with industry and HDOA
representatives make on site inspections of the current
Varroa mite control measures being taken by the HDOA at
each of the pier areas of the Port of Honolulu, at
Honolulu International Airport, at Wheeler Army Air
Base and at other key sites of interisland traffic."

On Thu, 6 Dec 2007, Nai`a wrote:

>
> Alvin E. Toda wrote:
>
>> "Subject: This hive was positive for Varroa mites in
>> downtown and the Super Ferry is in port
>
> So's Matson. So's Young Bros.
>
> This is getting pathetic.

Why inspect for Matson and Young Bros, and not for the
super ferry?

On Thu, 6 Dec 2007, Nai`a wrote:

> Alvin E. Toda wrote:
>
>> Why inspect for Matson and Young Bros, and not for
>> the super ferry?
>
> Why not bring Matson and Young Bros up to the same
> level as the SuperFerry FIRST, and THEN we'll have
> this discussion.

You mean have no state inspections for Matson and Young
Bros?

I've just got the following email about a tomato virus
that has been discovered in Mexico. It's spread by
white flies which are common in our yards. Is the Super
Ferry going to spread it arround the islands? We may be
able to replace the plants by the commercial GM variety
in the future, but until then a lot of tomatoes will
die on Oahu-- when it gets here?

"Scientists of Plant Research International of
Wageningen UR have identified the virus that causes
great damage in tomato cultivation in Mexico where the
disease is known as ?architez? which means 'withered'.

"The name of the new virus is tomato marchitez virus.
The virus was found to be related to the tomato
torrado virus, earlier discovered by Wageningen UR.
Identification of the virus now makes it possible for
breeding companies to develop cultivars with resistance
to the virus."

"Alvin E. Toda" <aet@lava.net> wrote in message
news:1196965800-sch@news.lava.net...
>
> On Thu, 6 Dec 2007, Nai`a wrote:
>
>>
>> Alvin E. Toda wrote:
>>
>>> "Subject: This hive was positive for Varroa mites in
>>> downtown and the Super Ferry is in port
>>
>> So's Matson. So's Young Bros.
>>
>> This is getting pathetic.
>
> Why inspect for Matson and Young Bros, and not for the
> super ferry?
>

Why do you continue to single out the Super Ferry? It has been
pointed out
to you numerous times by numerous people that it is no more a threat
than
any other vessel operating in the inter-island channels.


Of all the things wrong in Hawaii for you to get upset over...you pick
something as innocuous as the Super Ferry. How sad...

Honu

On Thu, 6 Dec 2007, Alvin E. Toda wrote:
>
> I've just got the following email about a tomato virus
> that has been discovered in Mexico. It's spread by
> white flies which are common in our yards. Is the Super
> Ferry going to spread it arround the islands? We may be
> able to replace the plants by the commercial GM variety
> in the future, but until then a lot of tomatoes will
> die on Oahu-- when it gets here?
>
How does a virus in Mexico gets to Hawaii in the first
place? The SuperFerry doesn't run between Mexico and
Hawaii.

On Fri, 7 Dec 2007, Helen Rapozo wrote:

> On Thu, 6 Dec 2007, Alvin E. Toda wrote:
>>
>> I've just got the following email about a tomato
>> virus that has been discovered in Mexico. It's
>> spread by white flies which are common in our yards.
>> Is the Super Ferry going to spread it arround the
>> islands? We may be able to replace the plants by the
>> commercial GM variety in the future, but until then
>> a lot of tomatoes will die on Oahu-- when it gets
>> here?
>>
> How does a virus in Mexico gets to Hawaii in the
> first place? The SuperFerry doesn't run between
> Mexico and Hawaii.

First it rides up to LA on leaves with white flies.
When it has established itself there like africanized
bees and that virus that's in mosquitoes, then it can
travel to Hawaii on the airplane or on Matson. My
concern is only between the islands when and if it gets
established here. We are already making efforts to
inspect and prevent it from spreading to Hawaii. We
have no plans to have super ferry state inspections.

On Fri, 7 Dec 2007, Hertz Donut wrote:

> "Alvin E. Toda" <aet@lava.net> wrote in message
> news:1196965800-sch@news.lava.net...
>>
>> Why inspect for Matson and Young Bros, and not for
>> the super ferry?
>>
>
> Why do you continue to single out the Super Ferry?
> It has been pointed out to you numerous times by
> numerous people that it is no more a threat than any
> other vessel operating in the inter-island channels.

You're entitled to your opinion just as I'm entitled to
mine. In the case of Matson for example, you drop your
car off and park it empty and leave the keys in the
office when you pay for transport. Even if you insist
that you will not hold them liable for the contents,
they will not board the the car. You're told that the
person who drives the car on board will check to see
that there is nothing on the car, or else the car will
not board. In the case of Young Bros, IIRC a state
inspector also checks the underneath for stuff.

You claim that there is no difference with a ferry car
that goes on board with all kinds of personal articles
of the passengers in the car? Well my opinion is
certainly different. Why should I buy your opinion only
because you believe it to be true? This kind of stuff
that I have stated is common knowledge and I have even
seen it mentioned in some news articles. Do we have to
have the obvious stated in an EIS before people will
believe the facts?

On Mon, 10 Dec 2007, Lawrence Akutagawa wrote:

> Why not concern yourself with not having it arrive in
> the islands in the first place so that you don't have
> to concern yourself with it spreading intra-island?

Actually, we need to be concerned about both. There is
already the mite here. But before that we were
concerned because the state refused to halt shipment of
bees from New Zealand and Austratia through the
islands. It can take just one bee with varoa mites to
escape when the shipment of bees are transfered between
planes. The state relied on volunteer inspectors--
promising to donate a $100 to the organization each
year. And some years, the money didn't come while some
volunteers could not go to inspect or the state forgot
to call.

Now there is a virus that is AIDS-like in detroying the
immune system of the bees. Eventually, the bees can no
longer find their way back and the hive is found
deserted with no dead bees arround the hive as in other
bee deseases. IIRC we are still at risk for that
because the state is still shipping bees from Australia
and New Zealand through Hawaii.

Nevertheless, we have a lot of infestations already
here, so we need to be careful of inter-island travel
and shipping.