The maximum protection of canary black bee, an autochthonous species unique in the world, reaches the regional parliament through a non-law proposal (PNL) presented by If we can. Most of the beekeepers of the Islands see jeopardize the future of this native breed, since although the Canary Islands became the first Spanish region in 1984, and one of the first in Europe, to establish measures to officially protect this local species, only 44% of the population is preserved. canary bee hutsince there are no restrictions of any kind on the importation of any breed of bees and from any part of the world on the islands of Tenerife, La Gomera and El Hierro.
The entry of foreign species has been the way for the introduction of diseases unknown to the Canary Islands black bee, including the varroa mitewhich needs a strong and constant sanitary effort and disbursement of money in treatments for beekeepers.
This mite was introduced to the Canary Islands in the mid-90s through the importation of foreign breeds in Tenerife, from where it spread to the rest of the islands. Besides, hybridization with bees outside has repercussions not only in the contamination of the Canary species, but in the quality and variety of honeywhich has obtained multiple international recognitions, although with little foreign commercialization.
Manuel Marrero, spokesman for Sí Podemos, who comes from a family with experience in the beekeeping sector, after meeting with the associations, has raised this proposal to the plenary session of the Canarian Parliament next Wednesday, an initiative for the State Government to include the Canary Islands black bee in the National Catalog of Breeds In addition, the Canarian Executive is demanded an exhaustive control of foreign species that prevents the introduction of insects and stops their expansion.
Likewise, the initiative promotes promoting honey from the Canary Islands, informing farmers on the islands about which phytosanitary products or what measures are most appropriate to protect their crops without harming bees, as well as providing spaces for apiaries and, in collaboration with the island councils, hire the professionals veterinary controls on diseases and advice on their treatment are necessary for health plans to develop.
Likewise, it demands an electronic window to facilitate the access of the beekeepers to the aids of the Posei. It also demands that all the necessary actions be carried out for the modernization of the beekeeping sector, among others: extraction rooms, pollination contracts, surveillance systems against hive theft, and promoting training activities.
The legislative initiative is having broad support from the scientific community and the national and international beekeeping sector where it is also committed to protecting its native breeds by avoiding the introduction of foreign species. In Álava, Aragón, Asturias, Navarra, the Balearic Islands, Galicia or Catalonia, the protection of the genetic patrimony of the black bee in their territories is being considered. In addition, the scientific community of Ireland, Italy, Sweden, Norway, Greece, Belgium celebrate that measures are taken in the Canary Islands to protect this canary breed.
1,200 beekeepers
In the Canaries there are 1,200 beekeepers who together maintain 35,000 hives and very few of them are professionals. It is a small and medium scale livestock that mostly supposes a complement to the family income and that would be in danger of not mediating public aid. The honey produced in the Canary Islands is linked to two unavoidable facts: a rich and varied Canarian flora with a high number of autochthonous species, many of which are endemic, which provide exclusive nectar and pollen to the nectar of the Islands and have provided international prizes and a breed of local bee adapted to the climate and flora of the Canary Islands.
The canary bee has a characteristic black color and enjoys a very tame character. Without these characteristics, it is also distinguished by its rusticity, ability to breed at any time of the year, high hygienic habits, and being little given to looting or swarming.
Hybridization interferes with the behavior of the colonies, making them erratic and generating aggressive colonies, in contrast to the tameness of the local breed.
Some of the imported breeds and their hybrids have a high pillaging behavior, that is, they enter weaker hives to steal their reserves, weakening them to the point of putting them in danger of survival. In addition, hybridization, as it occurs naturally in the mating flights of queen bees, is beyond the control of beekeepers. For those who defend the Canary Islands black bee, it is an abusive and undemocratic act of those who import foreign bees, “on the islands an irrelevant statistical percentage”, and who impose hybridization on the majority of beekeepers who do not wish to have breeds other than the local one. , indicates Antonio Quesada, graduate in biology and member of the Apigranca association.
Juan Morales, president of the Black Bee Association of the Canary Islands-Crianca, censures that beekeepers in Tenerife are importing bees that can endanger a unique genetic heritage in the world and, therefore, hopes that the PNL will go ahead on Wednesday and that the state and Canary Islands governments comply with what Parliament demands of them.
