Beekeepers will be required to specially wash parts of their hives about four times a year under a new varroa mite emergency order introduced across NSW, effective from today.
Under the order, registered beekeepers will have to alcohol wash part of their hives at least every 16 weeks and report results to the NSW Department of Primary Industries.
The state government says the move will give beekeepers more flexibility.
The varroa mite was first detected in NSW - in Newcastle - in June.
"The surveillance undertaken as part of the varroa response, combined with the surveillance as hives moved to pollination, help provide greater confidence about the extent of the current incursion," NSW Agriculture Minister Dugald Saunders said.
"That means we can give beekeepers the flexibility they need to continue essential business operations while still maintaining strong biosecurity protocols to ensure we stay on top of this destructive pest."
The order also allows commercial beekeepers in the blue general emergency zone to move or sell queen and escort bees, or queen cells, to another registered beekeeper within the blue general zone or the purple surveillance emergency zone.
Queen breeders must complete training, comply with alcohol wash requirements and keep records of sales.
Another change will allow beekeepers in red eradication zones to manage swarming by returning extracted honey supers immediately to the hive from which they were removed after honey extraction.
