State responded too slowly to bee parasite

THE ISSUE The varroa mite that kills bees has spread from Oahu to Hawaii island.

The spread of a bee parasite to Hawaii island demonstrates once again the state's inability to control organisms harmful to agriculture and the native environment.

Sending a "rapid response team" to the Big Island after the discovery of varroa mites at Hilo Harbor is too little, too late - reaction instead of prevention, the state's characteristically inefficient approach to invasive species.

When the mite was found on Oahu last year, beekeepers on the neighbor islands looked to the Agriculture Department to stop the destructive bug from crossing the ocean, but many had resigned themselves to infestation, given the lack of importance state officials assign industries that don't reap tax revenues on the scale of tourism.

Bee businesses aren't a major economic force, generating about $4 million in honey production and queen bee sales annually. However, the $500 million agriculture industry widely depends on bees for crop pollination.

Hawaii had been one of the few places on Earth free of the mite, giving great value to its queen bee exports, but the state hasn't put emphasis on keeping out noxious plants and animals. When an organism does reach our shores, action is less than forceful.

This is apparent in the state's baffling response to a fungus that is destroying non-native trees. Damage to native ohia trees throughout the islands has been incidental so far, but the fungus has potential for greater damage, according to a "Kokua Line" report Sunday.

The state adopted an interim rule that banned imports of host plants, but that expires this month. The department is preparing a permanent rule for the fungus, but until then Hawaii's doors are wide open.