The National Varroa Mite Management Program is hosting a webinar to share the experiences and learnings from managing the diagnostics processes during the Varroa mite emergency response.
Varroa (destructor) mite was first detected in New South Wales (NSW) in June 2022, activating the largest Australian multi-agency plant biosecurity emergency response, running until February 2024 when a decision was made to move from eradication to transition to management.
During the emergency response, extensive hive surveillance activities generated massive diagnostic workloads for the NSW Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development (NSW DPIRD) laboratories – within a 12-month period around 20,000 sticky mats were submitted to be checked for mites, along with many submissions of other sample types. The emergency response required results to be quick, clearly documented and verified for both positive detections which resulted in hive euthanasia and in some instances compliance implications, as well to confirm the absence of mites in samples from apiaries to allow critical pollination services to be delivered to growers.
NSW DPIRD Diagnostic Technician, David Britton will talk about what worked well and the lessons learnt to continue to improve critical diagnostics processes in the future.
Date: Thursday, 1 August 2024
Time: 11.00am AEST
Register here to reserve your spot for this FREE webinar.
