On Sunday the 28th of August, the beekeepers of Flowertown Bee Farm and Supply in Summerville awoke to find that their hives had become graveyards. All of their bees had dropped dead simultaneously, and the company’s co-owner Juanita Stanley was heartbroken. Flowertown Bee Farm claims to have lost an estimated 2.5 million bees. A handful of other local beekeepers have claimed to have lost thousands of bees on that same Sunday.
The cause of these deaths was a pesticide that contained naled, a powerful insecticide that is known to kill mosquitoes without harming humans. The bee victims had been caught in the crossfire of Dorchester County’s battle with mosquitoes. With four travel-related cases of Zika virus confirmed in Dorchester County, officials decided to eliminate all possible blood-sucking Zika hosts with naled spray. On August 28th, Dorchester officials conducted an aerial pesticide operation.
That Sunday, naled mist fell from the sky and blanketed Dorchester County. The aerial spraying took place from 6:30 a.m. until 8:30 a.m., and polluted the air with gas that is poisonous to both mosquitoes and bees. Most of the beekeepers listed on the county’s contact list were notified of the spraying operations and were able to protect their hives from the insecticide. Ms. Stanley at Flowertown Bee Farm was one of a small group of local bee farm business owners who failed to receive a phone call about the aerial spray.
The bee massacre could’ve have been easily avoided, according to information given by South Carolina Beekeepers Association President Larry Haigh. Haigh reported that many counties opt to spray pesticide at night because bees forage for pollen by day and return to their shielded habitats and hives by nightfall. Mosquitoes are active and wander during all hours of the day, therefore a night-time dosage of naled could have killed them while, at the very least, severely reducing the bee casualties found on August 28th.
In light of recent Zika fears, Dorchester County and Charleston’s own county have begun spraying pesticide on land during the day. County commissioned trucks are sweeping the streets of Charleston and many other counties throughout South Carolina. Unfortunately, officials have disregarded the deadly effects that spraying naled has on local honeybees, and have been spraying by truck during the morning and afternoon. This past Saturday alone, I witnessed a truck spraying downtown Charleston’s Meeting St. with naled vapor at 11:00 a.m.
The death of millions of bees yields worse consequences than a lack of delicious honey. Bees pollinate one third of the global food supply. Simply put, without bees our crops and plants would not be able to survive. Bees are a necessary component in our food-growing process, and if we continue to be negligent with pesticide operations, we will be faced with an agricultural crisis. If bees become extinct, the human race could follow.
According to Bee Informed Partnership surveys, which ask commercial and small-scale beekeepers to track their bee survival rate, the U.S bee population has been decreasing by higher rates each year. From April of 2015 to April of 2016, Bee Informed reports that beekeepers lost 44.1 percent of their colonies, which is a 3.5 percent increase from the loss seen during the 2014-2015 report. While parasites and diseases are contributing factors to this population loss, they are hard for us to control. On the other hand, we have complete control over when and where naled is sprayed, as well as whether or not beekeepers are notified.
Of course, a proactive plan to kill mosquitoes that could be carrying Zika virus is necessary, and I’m in no way arguing against halting pesticide operations. However, if county officials decided to only spray during night hours, the annual bee death rate would be reduced tremendously. Not only are bee lives important, they are the livelihood of many businesses. All beekeepers in the area need to be informed before insecticides are sprayed so that they can shield their hives and their bees’ food and water supplies. If these precautionary measures are taken in the future, the U.S could avoid bee extinction and, subsequently, a food supply crisis. It is safe to say that the protection of bees is in everyone’s (and every bee’s) best interest.
