Beekeepers were searching for answers at Kempsey Shire Council's varroa mite drop-in information session at the All Saints Anglican Church Hall in West Kempsey.
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The council hosted the information day on Friday (September 22) with the Department of Primary Industry (DPI), Rural Financial Counselling Service, Salvation Army, Drought Angels and Services Australia (Centrelink) some of the many services that attended.
Kempsey Shire Council Economic Development Project Officer Agribusiness Ali Briggs said that council was aware of and concerned by the local impacts of the outbreak.
"Beekeeping is a key industry in the Kempsey Shire, with the Mid North Coast region having a large number of hives," she said.
"We will continue to engage with beekeepers, industry bodies and government departments, providing referral services and other actions as required."
The information session came days after National Management Group (NMG) transitioned from eradication to a management response with the DPI issuing a new varroa mite emergency order.
Costa Honey co-owner Denelle Banham said she was attending the session to see what information was available because she has found communication to be quite poor.
"We feel like we haven't been treated very fairly or respectfully," she said.
"We found out our hives were going to be destroyed at Griffith through a Facebook post... it was a week later that we got an email to say it was our hives that were infected on the farm and set to be destroyed."
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Costa's Honey has been a family owned and operated business for over 20 years.
They have lost 484 hives due to varroa mite eradication strategy.
"We're looking at two years to be able to rebuild those hives and get them back to producing honey and ready for pollination services," Ms Braham said.
Ms Banham said while she welcomes the move from eradication to management, it has come far too late for many beekeeping families.
"In the last month a lot of people have had thousands of hives destroyed," she said.
"For us personally, we've had two thirds of our business destroyed in the last two weeks."
Other beekeepers agree that the decision has come too late.
"I don't think you'll ever get rid of the mite anyway," beekeeper Waynne Fulford said.
"It's too late now because bees are swarming now this time of year."
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Emily Walker
Reporter at Macleay Argus and Port Macquarie News.
Reporter at Macleay Argus and Port Macquarie News.
