Wednesday, January 09, 2008
Lingle endangers Hawaii's honey industry and Neighbor Island agriculture by withholding funds to protect bees
The headline of this Hawaii Tribune-Herald story tells it all: Lingle nixes more money to fight bee killer.
The bee killer is the Varroa destructor mite which is hitching a ride on the Superferry as described in the article.
For want of a small amount of money, not only the honey industry but Neighbor Island agriculture is put at risk. The article notes that although the honey industry is only $1.5 million, since the state's agricultural crops depend on honeybees for pollination, the whole $450 agriculture industryis at risl.
We wrote about that over a month ago. It's good to see the issue in a mainstream news article.
But something needs to be done.
Just waiting for Varroa mites to invade the Neighbor Islands on the Superferry or in other ways is a clear recipe for disaster.
It's disaster that Lingle is cooking up.
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