More than half of Ontario's bees did not survive the winter, according to a new report that has the province's beekeepers' group very concerned.
About 58 per cent of Ontario bees died during what was an especially long winter, while other provinces lost on average about 19 per cent of their swarm, according to the Canadian Association of Professional Apiculturists survey. That means Ontario lost lost bees at a rate three times that of the other provinces.
While the report fingers the weather — this year's polar vortex — as the main culprit for the bee deaths, acute and chronic pesticide damage or insufficient recovery from pesticide exposure last year have also been cited by hive-minders as contributing factors.
Ontario Beekeepers' Association president Dan Davidson says bees' exposure in the hive to pollen contaminated by pesticides "almost guarantees they will not survive the winter."
The group is calling on Ontario's governing Liberals to fast track a plan looking at permits restricting the number of plant seeds treated with neonicotinoids, a widely used pesticide that some scientists and environmentalists say are killing bees and other insects.
The apiculturists association states Canada's overall winter mortality rate averaged 25 per cent, well above what it says
beekeepers deem the "acceptable" loss limit of 15 per cent.
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