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Review of the National Sentinel Hive Program
'A Review of the Sentinel Hive Program in Queensland, New South Wales, Victoria, Western Australia and the Northern Territory' - Pat Boland, 2005
Background
The National Sentinel Hive Program was established in 2000 to enhance surveillance for honeybee parasites (most notably varroa) and exotic bees in the vicinity of seaports.
The purpose of the program is to assist the early detection of these parasites and bees. This will provide a better chance that an incursion will be eradicated or that an eradication program is smaller and less costly.
The National Sentinel Hive Program operates at 27 ports and the review covered 20 ports in NSW, Victoria, Queensland, South Australia, Northern Territory and Western Australia.
Review of Sentinel Hive Program
The review was undertake in 2005 and the following key recommendations were made:
- a comprehensive analysis of the benefits of the program to be conducted by the honeybee industry and those horticultural and seed crop and pastoral industries identified as significant beneficiaries of pollination
- a review of the long-term funding and coordination of the program, including the costs
- surveillance for Asian honeybee be extended to all ports on the eastern seaboard as far south as Brisbane
- investigating the feasibility of establishing or re-establishing hives at various locations, and
- increasing the intensity of surveillance by more regular sampling of hives at certain locations.
Download the Review of the Sentinel Hive Program 
PDF [156kb]
