Apiculture New Zealand welcomes Minister of Biosecurity’s appointment of the New Zealand Bee Health & Biosecurity Trust (NZBB)
The Minister of Biosecurity, Hon Andrew Hoggard has advised the Apiculture New Zealand Chair of the appointment of the New Zealand Bee Health & Biosecurity Trust (NZBB) as the management agency for the Biosecurity (National American Foulbrood Pest Management Plan) Order 1998 (AFB NPMP), under section 100D of the Biosecurity Act 1993.
Apiculture New Zealand welcomes the appointment which sees the existing AFB Pest Management Agency’s governance model move from having ApiNZ as the overall management entity to a standalone agency. This would give the Agency the potential to fulfil a broader biosecurity mandate.
“Over the past few years, the industry has seen the AFB Agency go from strength to strength, building its technical and professional capability in supporting beekeepers to better manage and eliminate AFB,” says Nathan Guy, Independent Chair of ApiNZ. This has given the ApiNZ Board full confidence to support an independent structure, one that has the infrastructure and expertise to extend into a broader bee health and biosecurity role over time.
“We’ve seen the Agency take on a greater role around AFB recognition training, education and communication and that makes it well placed to expand its scope to general honey bee disease management and biosecurity.
“This does not take away from its role in supporting beekeepers to manage and eliminate AFB and we understand there will be a collaborative process with beekeepers when exploring an expanded role.
“This is a new era for the beekeeping industry, one that signals a maturity in how it organises itself around bee health under a structure that will support a more collaborative and resilient beekeeping industry,” says Nathan Guy.