Urban Beekeeping Policies

Specific policies relating to bees:

• Franklin Council

Summary

• Bylaws should be beekeeper friendly.
• The average home garden relies on honeybees for the majority of pollination.
• Council should recognise the need for managed bee colonies in their areas.
• It is most important that local authorities encourage the keeping of managed bee colonies within urban and rural areas.
• Suitable areas within public reserves should be made available for the placement of managed bee colonies.
• Definitions of basis for complaint must be clearly defined.
• It is urged that any bylaw encourages dialogue between the parties without the early intervention by Council Officers.
• Where parties are not able to amicably resolve the issue, there may be a request for the Council to take a mediation role.
• Bylaws must not restrict the livelihood of the commercial or hobby beekeeper.

Guidelines for keeping bees in urban areas

We encourage the councils around New Zealand to use the following guidelines so beekeepers in urban areas are able to keep hives without causing a nuisance to neighbours.

1. Numbers of hives kept on property should be appropriate for the size of the property. Two or three hives placed sensibly in a property should not cause anyone any nuisance on an average sized section. Larger lot sizes should be able to host larger numbers of colonies.
2. Placement of hives is a critical factor. Hives placed beside hedges, or fences mean that bees are forced to climb soon after leaving the hive entrance, thus taking them up and over the height of most people and on to searching for food. Alternatively hives placed on garage roofs, or other suitable structures, will also mean that the bees flight path is well above the public eye.
3. Provision of a small water trough in the property where the hives are located to allow the bees access to water that has a little salt added.

Background

Until the turn of last century, beekeeping in New Zealand was largely commercially oriented, and pollination services were provided by both a few kept colonies and the many feral bee colonies.

Ecology

The average home garden relies on honeybees for the majority of pollination. While foraging bees have a flying radius of up to five kilometres from their hive, there was always a base level of bees in a given area; this base level has been significantly reduced. Councils should recognise the need for there to be managed bee colonies in their areas.

Bees are a major pollinator of legumes, especially clovers. The agricultural use of nitrogen containing chemical fertilizers which are very soluble in water may result in them entering and contaminating waterways. Incorporating legumes (clovers) in the pasture or crop planting provides these nitrogen requirements in a controlled manner which does not enter waterways.

Loss of feral colonies

Since the discovery of the Varroa destructor mite in April 2000, the number of feral bee colonies in the North Island has rapidly reduced, to such an extent that bee clubs and beekeepers have received many comments from the public about the absence of the honeybee and the consequent effect that has had on their home orchards and gardens. The arrival of Varroa in New Zealand has dramatically changed the balance of bees in our environment.

The only honeybee colonies now in the North Island are mainly managed pedigree colonies, and it will probably only be a matter of time before the whole of the country will be equally affected by Varroa.

World wide, the arrival of Varroa has resulted in the demise of the great majority of feral colonies, many of which resided in the large trees of city parks and reserves, thus eliminating their urban pollination potential. Without the intervention of beekeepers, honeybee colonies perish within two or three years. It is already reported that the greater Auckland area for example now has very few bees, and likewise in many other areas of the North Island.

Beekeepers have had an increase in the number of enquiries from the public wanting to keep bees or have a hive placed on their property because of the pollination provided by the honeybee that they are no longer getting from feral hives. Commercial operations aside, since the advent of Varroa the urban pollination environment has significantly changed and beekeeping is now more a necessity, whereas it once was largely recreational.

It is therefore most important that local authorities encourage the keeping of managed bee colonies within urban and rural areas. Suitable areas within public reserves should be made available for the placement of managed bee colonies.

Current beekeeping laws

There are already many legal requirements for the management of bees, with which all beekeepers have to comply. All apiaries are required to be registered on the National Apiary Register database that specifies the geographic location and identification of the owner and the disease status of the hive.

The council should drop or at least minimize the need for a registration fee because all beekeepers already have to register their hives and pay a registration fee, to help control American Foul Brood disease within the New Zealand.

All beekeepers have their hives inspected annually by a Certificated Beekeeper as part of Disease Control. Where poor beekeeping practices occur there are laws already in place to deal with this. For example abandoned apiaries can be removed or destroyed using provisions of the American Foul Brood National Pest Management Strategy under the Biosecurity Act.

Proposed bylaws.

We urge Council to be aware of the value of bees in the environment and their importance in agricultural food production. Without sufficient honeybees many of the crops on which we depend will not bear fruit or will produce fruit of poor quality.

The keeping and management of hives requires some expertise, and knowledge of, and compliance with the legal requirement of apiary registration and its attendant obligations.

Commercial demand for pollination services

We have a concern is that a Bylaw may unnecessarily restrict:

• the livelihoods of the commercial beekeepers;
• the enjoyment of those who keep bees as a hobby to pollinate their fruit, nut and berry crops; and
• a source of food for their families.

Bees also furnish useful products other than honey such as beeswax, pollen, and propolis. Bylaws must not restrict the livelihood of the commercial or hobby beekeeper.

Rationale for Controls

Because bees are stinging insects, they always have the ability to become a nuisance or annoyance to any person. There are people who have a fear of honeybees quite out of proportion to the real danger posed to them.

Wasps are also a public nuisance and are often mistaken for honeybees. Beekeepers are called upon on numerous occasions to deal with supposed “bee” nuisances, only to find they are in fact wasps. Beekeepers voluntarily kill hundreds of wasp nests every year as a service to the community.

Beekeeper Registration

Beekeeping is a sensible low cost hobby for all ages. It involves patience, calmness, discipline, intellectual enquiry, heavy skeletal lifting and at times assistance for other beekeepers. The NBA is concerned about the potential increase in the cost to beekeepers when Council requires beekeepers to seek permission to establish an apiary when there is a compulsory national database maintained by AgriQuality Limited. While it may be useful for a Council to know where bees are being kept, no application should be necessary to keep bees.

AgriQuality (as the contractor to the Management Agency of the American Foulbrood Pest Management Strategy and the National Beekeepers’ Association) records beekeeper, landowner, map grid reference, disease status, and other details of the hive. The beekeeper must complete an Annual Disease Return. Some oversight is provided by this system of disease inspection and reporting. Hives must be inspected at least annually by an approved beekeeper. If the owner is not certified then some other qualified person must do the inspection and sign the return. Beekeepers should be encouraged to join the National Beekeepers’ Association and a local beekeeping club. Urban beekeeping clubs also need official support. These organisations perform a strong educational role.

In addition, there is a “Pollination” research project funded by the Sustainable Farming Fund. This project involves the Council, the horticulture and beekeeping industries. This project is looking at maximising pollination and minimizing adverse effects on bees of poisons used in horticulture and agriculture. The database developed by the Hawkes Bay Regional Council for this project is designed to provide information on the location of hives in cropping areas.

Complaints

The National Beekeepers’ Association suggests mediation between affected parties is a much better way to solve a beekeeping problem rather than resorting to restrictive bylaws.

Complaints should be worked on by consulting with the beekeeper and working through local beekeeping clubs or other beekeeping organisations – such as the National Beekeepers’ Association to find workable solutions. Councils can contact either the National Beekeepers’ Association or Apiculture Officers in AgriQuality to determine the owner of ‘nuisance hives’.

Individual beekeepers, beekeeping clubs or the NBA, should be encouraged to work with the Council to resolve any problems. This should be the action when a situation is brought to the attention of council. Council officers should assist as mediators when disputes cannot be resolve

We recommend that Council adopt a similar by-law to that of the Wellington City Council where there should be two independent complaints about bees before the Council investigates. The Auckland Branch of the National Beekeepers Association could assist the Council when there is a complaint. It may be just a matter of re-siting a hive slightly to relieve the complaint.

The majority of apiaries are situated on rural properties and if a problem arises, the beekeeper concerned and the property owner should resolve the problem. The National Beekeepers’ Association encourages this dialogue between the parties without the early intervention by councils. Where parties are not able to amicably resolve the issue, there may be a request for the Council to take a mediation role.

Bees, as with other domestic animals, have the potential to annoy adjoining neighbours. Competently managed hives very rarely cause a nuisance. Bees are selected and bred for calmness because aggressive bees are no fun to work with. Managed hives minimise swarming tendencies. The beekeeper’s understanding of bees will allow hives to be placed in suitable locations.

Bees that have an all year supply of food and urban areas have a large number of plants available in gardens that have something in flower for the bees to forage. They are normally so intent on foraging for their food that the bees will not harm anyone.

If bylaws using such words as “nuisance” or “distress” are contemplated, they must be clearly defined.

Bees, like all living things, produce a dropping. If a bylaw is to use bee waste as a reason for the removal of a beehive, a maximum bee waste measurement limit must be clearly defined.

Residential Areas

The number of hives should be reasonable for the size of property; three may be a maximum for an urban section without the consent of neighbours.

Beekeepers should maintain gentle- natured bee stocks through queen-bee selection.

The use of sound reasoning from a recognised beekeeper is likely to be more productive than an edict from a council officer who may have little knowledge about bees and therefore a poor judge of the situation. For example some nuisance situations are very short lived and it is necessary to understand what hive management is being carried out at the time.

The National Beekeepers’ Association suggests a series of guidelines to deal with beekeeping complaints is developed for your officers. We could assist you in this process. It is recommended that Council officers have an understanding of bee behaviour.

Conclusion

We look forward to working with Councils to ensure that the honey bee will always be seen in both urban and rural areas and play their very important role in pollination.