Many beekeepers are suffering a serious problem in the whole world; what is known as “colony depopulation syndrome”, what could be defined as the diverse physical, chemical or biological causes that make bees die, get confused or suppress their immune answer.

Bees are an important bioindicator of the quality of the environment. So we can say that something is going wrong, that our planet is sick, and this is another symptom that corroborates it. This information is not surprising, anyone can realize that there are many symptoms which indicate us the same, but what surprises me is that we are not doing anything , or at least not enough , whereas in several countries of the European Union are already taking preventive measures. However is Spain the country of the union with a major beehives census: according to the information of the year 2004 we had 2,464,601 colonies and 4,476 professional beekeepers. There are enough studies and tests in order to start doing something. It is possible that some studies have not finished in our country, but there are many studies of other countries with the same problem. I get shocked of the lack of interest of everybody, authorities and apathetic politicians, the lack of interest of the society that sees the problem as someone else's, and the beekeepers, in many cases silent because the situation does not affect them and in other cases because it perhaps interests them.

This lack of concern or lack of interest in the society also can be caused by different reasons, as it happens with other environmental problems: the uncertainty of the damage or future risk, thinking that it is a distant problem (syndrome NIMBY, not in my backyard), and therefore, a problem that we do not feel as own. The apathy of the authorities, political parties and agrarian trade unions could be explained because of the not wished effects of their solution. This means that a more ecoefficient technology is not bad whenever it does not reduce anything the competitiveness, the benefits, the salary or the employment. That is why many of the behaviours ecologically benign are seen like less desirable.

All the environmental problems are interconnected like a cobweb: what happens in an end will also affect us, in spite of the distance. We do not escape from our own ecological trace, which we have moved to third world countries. An example of this is the use of the DDT for almost 30 years: There are still stored some of this bioaccumulative pesticide in the greasy tissues of many animals in the whole world (for instance the penguins of the Antarctic). Although using it is restricted or prohibited, the truth is that it is freely produced and sold in developing countries (India), since it is usually used for treating plagues – vehicles of ineffective organisms (Nicolás Olea).

Depopulation takes place near our house but also in places so distant as in the United States, Argentina, Uruguay, China and New Zealand. It has also happened in European countries as France, Germany, Italy, Portugal, Poland, etc. In Spain, it has not taken place equally everywhere: in some areas of Galicia, in Cordova, Guadalajara, Balearic Islands and Catalonia. Surely it has occurred in many other places, but it has not been spread or the information has not been given. It is also true that other areas of Spain have not been affected at all.

Relating to beekeeping, the region of Ferrol was one of the most important of Galicia and it was one of the first regions affected by this problem. The A.G.A. (Asociación Gallega de Apicultura -Galician Association of Beekeepers-) had a few more than 100 members and at the moment they are 40. From these 40 members something more than the half, does not have bees. In the last 6 years 85 % of the bee livestock has been lost. This percentage is not real since many people are often restoring and repopulating the beehives. In Galicia the total percentage could be 50 %.

In Andalusia in the last three years the depopulation syndrome has caused the disappearance of up to 30 % of bees, according to the teacher of Zoology of the University of Cordova, Francisco Padilla. From Cordova, the agricultural organization COAG alerted that 2008 has been a «catastrophic» year for the honey producers. In many places they have lost up to 50 % of the production. In Cordova an apiary usually generates an average of 22Kg of the product. This has been reduced to 10Kg in some producing areas like Hornachuelos or Montoro.

In 2007 35% of honey bees of the cattle raisings of the island of Majorca were lost, (according to the president of the association of beekeepers, Pep Matas).

Like many other environmental problems, there can be multiple causes and difficult solution. The solution is difficult in this case, because of the uncertainty of the causes and the unspecific of the symptoms. The causes considered until now have been centred on nutritional problems and therefore related to flora, sanitary problems, specifically the ones attributable to the new parasite Nosema ceranae or to the action of varroa, and problems of poisonings by insecticides. The use of some of those insecticides (like fipronil or imidacloprid) has already been limited in France and prohibited, in Germany, Italy and Slovenia. There have been many other hypothesis, emphasizing the negative action of the electromagnetic waves or the appearance of genetically modified organisms (GMO), between others.

Today, scientists don't agree on the cause of depopulation. It seems that there are several pathogenic cases (nosemiasis, virosis, etc.) that debilitate the colony. However they do not seem to cause the process. The Nosema ceranae does not produce any illness that could cause problems if the beehive is not debilitated for other reasons. This illness also causes a few problems that are the same every year, so it must not be the resason for the bee's deaths. It is neither constant nor has always the same evidence, at least in Spain. It has been proved that in apiaries of the south, the evidence is lower when the field conditions are suitable, when there is major flowering variety, but paradoxically, the affected colonies present food reservations. It seemed therefore that they were not dying because of hunger, but also it is convenient to remember that the good feeding of the bees depends on the appropriate combination of different types of pollen, what does not happen if there is little variety of flowering [1].

In France and other countries, the principal explanation to this disappearance is the use of the insecticides imidacloprid and fipronil. Since then, it seems that the above-mentioned death toll has diminished. Because the soil keeps on being impregnated with these poisons of lasting action at least for four years, in some cases their colonies keep on being destroyed and the collection turns out to be very limited. It is necessary to bear in mind that some French people keep on using imidacloprid, especially in wheat and barley, and that the prohibitions are limited to corn and sunflower cultivation (Guy Bernelas).

It would be a great measure for the Spanish beekeeping to limit the use of imidacloprid , although not all the cases that happen can be explained (Andalusian Centre for Ecological Beekeeping. F. Puerta). It is also necessary to take into account that these products can affect bees in an almost lethal way, that is to say, without killing bees, but interfering in their vital functions, as for example, affecting their sense of direction.

As well as the Ombudsman, Mr. Manuel Ángel Aguilar Belda with file number: 07010630, wonders, I ask myself: why is not it considered to be appropriate (according to the Principle of Prevention and to the demand of the European Parliament [2]) to prohibit or limit the use of neurotoxic pesticides, at least temporarily or seasonally? … The manufacturers of these products (Bayer and Basf) indicate that they are very dangerous for bees and that their use must be limited in areas and activity periods of bees. What measures has that Ministerial Department adopted or thinks to adopt in order to regulate and to restrict their use in some areas and forage periods of bees?

I am still waiting the answer of the Environmental Ministry to the same questions: is this spring another silent spring [3]. Book that set the foundations of the modern ecologism, of the American Rachel Carson, or better said, a spring with the silence of bees?

Lluís Torrente García, Les Agulles- Escologistes en Acció del Baix Llobregat-Garraf

Sources:

- Dr. Francisco Puerta. Teacher of Zoology. Head of the Centro de Referencia Apícola de Andalucía. University of Cordoba.

- Sr. Nicolás Olea. Professor of Internal Medicine of the University of Granada – Head of the radiology department of Clinic Hospital of Granada.

- Guy Bernelas, French old opponent and member of the important group Encyclopèdie des Nuisances, author of “The Mantle of Medea”.

- Xesús Asorey, biologist, technical secretary of the Asociación Gallega de Apicultura (AGA), head of la Casa das abellas in Abegondo.

- University of Coruña. High Polytechnic School. “Informe de presencia de pesticidas en la cuenca del río Xubia”.

- Asociación Gallega de Apicultura y apicultores de Ferrolterra.

- Centro Andaluz de Apicultura Ecológica (Cordoba).

- Videos (“El silencio de las abejas”): www.nationalgeographic.es/articulo/micrositeabril_abejas.htm
- Video (AGA): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tl2arcDR3cc

Notas

[1] Centro Andaluz de Apicultura Ecológica (Cordoba)

[2] Resolution proposal to the oral question B5-0000/2003 presented by Astrid Lulling y Dominique F.C. Souchet according to section 5 of article 42 of the Regulations on the difficulties faced by the European beekeeping sector

[3] Silent Spring, best-seller about the danger of using DDT and other chemicals as pesticides. Book that set the foundations of the modern ecologism, of the American Rachel Carson