UH-Hilo seeks money for bees

By COLIN M. STEWART

Tribune-Herald staff writer

The amount of money they’re asking for is relatively small, but its impact could have big implications for the Big Island, and even the world.

So say supporters of a bill seeking $10,000 in funding from the Legislature to establish new bee hives for the University of Hawaii at Hilo’s beekeeping program.

By allowing students to collect data from up to 25 separate research hives, in addition to the school’s current 25 teaching hives, the program has the potential to generate better defenses against pests that are threatening the beekeeping industry on the Big Isle, said the bill’s sponsor, state Rep. Clift Tsuji, D-South Hilo, Panaewa, Puna, Keaau, Kurtistown.

“We’ve been told by those who are authorities in this field that up to 80 percent of the food we eat is directly or indirectly dependent on honey bees. That is a disturbing percentage, because pests like the Varroa mite and the small hive beetle are severely impacting and decimating our agriculture in Hawaii,” he said.

In fact, he said, at the time that the infestation of small hive beetles was first discovered on the Big Island, macadamia nut pollination was impacted by as much as 50 percent on some farms.

“That is why Dr. Tsutsumi’s project is so very important,” he said.

UHH Entomology Professor Lorna Arita-Tsutsumi heads up the school’s 20-year-old beekeeping program. Last year, she partnered with Hawaii chef Alan Wong to shed light on the predicament of Hawaii’s honey bees, and to generate funding from the public to help educate students and develop possible solutions to pest problems.

Members of the public may donate money for a particular hive on the school’s 110-acre farm in Panaewa, and then receive regular updates from the students who are managing it, including pictures and even samples of the products they make, including honey. Adopt-A-Beehive has already helped to defray many of the costs associated with the program, Arita-Tsutsumi said, with about 80 donors so far participating.

“We’ve been doing really good with our teaching hives,” she said. “But if we use them for teaching, then students can’t collect data from those hives for their research. We want to provide opportunities for students to do meaningful research so they can develop better techniques and control measures for the pests that we have.”

To that end, Tsuji, who serves as the chairman of the state House Committee on Agriculture, introduced House Bill 2100. The bill proposes $10,000 to fund preparation of a half acre of land on UHH property to build up to 25 hives.

“The hives in this apiary will be used for applied research projects to develop control measures and devices to help maintain healthy honey bee colonies,” Arita-Tsutsumi said last week in her testimony before the Committee on Agricutlure.

For instance, she explained Monday, as early as this July, students could begin testing a variety of different traps for the small hive beetle, which was found in Hawaii in 2010.

“They’ll build some with a different type of entrance into the trap. Is the direction the trap faces important? Is it the size of the entrance? With research, we can look at these factors,” she said.

So far, Tsuji said, the bill has passed out of the House agriculture committee, but must also clear the higher education and finance committees as well, before facing a House vote and then moving on to the Senate. With the state continuing to face tight budget constraints, there is some concern that the bill could be killed before making it through the Legislature, he said.

Even so, he argued, “It’s not a lot of money, and people recognize the benefit of it. … I encourage people to share their testimony.”

Email Colin M. Stewart at cstewart@hawaiitribune-herald.com.