Honey bees not in danger -- never were? Capitalism saved the day?

[JosephDredd]

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news...pse-u-s-honeybee-colonies-hit-a-20-year-high/

As you can see, the number of honeybee colonies has actually risen since 2006, from 2.4 million to 2.7 million in 2014, according to

data tracked by the USDA. The 2014 numbers, which came out earlier this year, show that the number of managed colonies -- that is, commercial honey-producing bee colonies managed by human beekeepers -- is now the highest it's been in 20 years.

A

2012 working paper by Randal R. Tucker and Walter N. Thurman, a pair of agricultural economists, explains that seasonal die-offs have always been a part of beekeeping: they report that before CCD, American beekeepers would typically lose 14 percent of their colonies a year, on average.

So beekeepers have devised two main ways to replenish their stock. The first method involves splitting one healthy colony into two separate colonies: put half the bees into a new beehive, order them a new queen online (retail price: $25 or so), and voila: two healthy hives.

The other method involves simply buying a bunch of bees to replace the ones you lost. You can buy 3 pounds of "packaged" bees, plus a queen, for about $100 or so.

Beekeepers have been doing this sort of thing since the advent of commercial beekeeping. When CCD came along, it roughly doubled the usual annual rate of bee die-offs. But this doesn't mean that bees are going extinct, just that beekeepers need to work a little harder to keep production up.

The price of some of that extra work will get passed on to the consumer. The average retail price of honey has roughly doubled since 2006, for instance. And Kim Kaplan, a researcher with the USDA, points out that pollination fees -- the amount beekeepers charge to cart their bees around to farms and pollinate fruit and nut trees -- has approximately doubled over the same period.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news...pse-u-s-honeybee-colonies-hit-a-20-year-high/

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news...pse-u-s-honeybee-colonies-hit-a-20-year-high/

But rising prices for fruit and nuts hardly constitute the "beepocalypse" that we've all been worried about. Tucker and Thurman, the economists, call this a victory for the free market: "Not only was there not a failure of bee-related markets," they conclude in their paper, "but they adapted quickly and effectively to the changes induced by the appearance of Colony Collapse Disorder."

News to me.

 

[MadSquabbles500]

So the efforts we have made to stop the so-called collapse seems working. Well whether there ever was a collapse, an increase is a good sign.

 

[KONG-D'SNT-TAP]

does thst mean I can start killing bees again

 

[Renard]

I don't like buying packaged bees, never tastes as good as the fresh ones.

 

[Rex Kwon Do]

I remember when a few idiots were freaking out about the beepocalypse. I even read we might end up going to war with Russia over it (srs). The same type of people that freaked over that non-issue are the same types that freak out over global warming.

 

[uncommon]

 

[VulcanNervPinch]

Well, that sounds like good news. However, there's a couple things:


1) Even if more aggressive cultivation is keeping numbers buoyant, doubling/tripling the dieoff rate is still concerning. If conditions worsen, at some point, you get to a place where just splitting your hives doesn't keep up.


2) These are just managed commercial colonies, yes?
How are wild bees doing? Quick Googling says "not so good".

http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-bees-almonds-20151221-htmlstory.html

Wild bees are least abundant where they're most needed, study says

The resulting map could be a warning to growers that they are too dependent on commercial honey bees and should “diversify their portfolio," Ricketts said.
Over those five years, relative abundance of wild bees declined in 23% of the land area in the contiguous states, the study found.

 

[KONG-D'SNT-TAP]

I remember when a few idiots were freaking out about the beepocalypse. I even read we might end up going to war with Russia over it (srs). The same type of people that freaked over that non-issue are the same types that freak out over global warming.

The bee effort has been helped by people you know. Like scientists.

If we let the steady decline of bees continue it would become a complete disaster for the planet.

Just like climate change. Also scientists are helping with this "non-issue."

 

[Prefect]

That really worked out for the dodo.

 

[Ayin]

Or the passenger pigeon, which really shows that the general populations response to being told that a species is at a point of critical decline is to rush out and make sure to kill as many survivors as possible before the resource it has been providing disappears forever.

Nugent's an idiot.

 

[91 seconds]

Most important post on the first page. I keep an eye on the balance of nature.

 

[Striderx5]

I swear everything I here is a lie. Pluto not a planet...bees not dying... Scientists are letting me down lately.

 

[MicroBrew]

That really worked out for the dodo.

Or for all the fish species that were on the brink of collapse forcing governments to create a quota system but illegal fishing does not care about quotas, and the Chinese are big into illegal fishing. BlueFin Tuna, which is a sushi delicacy, is threatened or endangered.

 

[COTUR1@43]

 

[Bald1]

Or the passenger pigeon, which really shows that the general populations response to being told that a species is at a point of critical decline is to rush out and make sure to kill as many survivors as possible before the resource it has been providing disappears forever.

Nugent's an idiot.

He's got a point as far as if something could turn a profit, or be monetized so to speak, someone will try to manage it as an asset and will try to make it grow in order to maximize profits.

Just look at large mammals in Africa. The only places where they have positive population growth are places where they can be used to generate profit. i.e. game preserves and safaris.

 

[Prefect]

He's got a point as far as if something could turn a profit, or be monetized so to speak, someone will try to manage it as an asset and will try to make it grow in order to maximize profits.

Just look at large mammals in Africa. The only places where they have positive population growth are places where they can be used to generate profit. i.e. game preserves and safaris.

Yep. No issues with uncontrolled poaching by Minnesotan dentist on safaris in Africa. That dentist had to try real hard to find people desperate enough to facilitate his poaching.

 

[oldshadow]

Yep. No issues with uncontrolled poaching by Minnesotan dentist on safaris in Africa. That dentist had to try real hard to find people desperate enough to facilitate his poaching.

That still doesn't change the fact the only places were the animals are doing well is where the native population see them it as a financial gain to manage and control the population.

And crazy Ted is right as long as management is the first priority.

 

[Victor Maitland]

Probably stats released by pesticide company sponsored sources..
You have only to look with your own eyes to see there arent as many bees around these days. Other insects like ladybugs have declined big time too.

 

[jefferz]

Yep. No issues with uncontrolled poaching by Minnesotan dentist on safaris in Africa. That dentist had to try real hard to find people desperate enough to facilitate his poaching.

He wasn't poaching.

I wonder what affect the drought in California has on the bee population.

 

[oleDirtyBast4rd]

Yep. No issues with uncontrolled poaching by Minnesotan dentist on safaris in Africa. That dentist had to try real hard to find people desperate enough to facilitate his poaching.

Can you do me a favor and define poaching?