New Zealand is losing bee colonies by the thousands, with an expert beekeeper warning bees may soon become endangered without human intervention.

The latest figures released by the Ministry for Primary Industries (MPI) show New Zealand has lost over 90,000 bee colonies over the last two winter seasons.

Varroa mite infestation and toxic exposures are among the list as suspected causes.

Jessie Whitfield, founder of organisation ‘Bees Up Top,’ spends most of her spring and summer rescuing hundreds of swarms of bees from exterminators, and reinstalling the hives on the rooftops and in the backyards of families and businesses around Auckland.

She manages the hives, extracts the honey, and then delivers it in labelled jars.

She said bees were struggling to survive without the help of humans any more, due to Varroa mite parasites and the American Foul Brood (AFB) – a fatal bacterial disease for honey bees.

“Every year, a hive has to be treated two times with a special medicine to fight parasites and diseases. Bees left in the trunks of trees or in the wild will eventually die,” Whitfield told Stuff.

According to information on the MPI website, antibiotics used to manage common diseases for honey bee colonies such as AFB, have developed resistance over time.

Detective dogs have previously been used to sniff out bacteria in its early stages, and in 2020 MPI invested $50,000 into a project aimed at helping train detection dogs to reliably detect AFB, by creating a “scent picture” of the disease.

But if New Zealand keeps losing bee colonies at the current rate, the fashion, dairy, and meat industry, will be severely impacted, Whitfield said.

“Bees pollinate cotton plants and flowers such as the clover and alfalfa and these are the types of things that cows and sheep are eating. It could really influence the way we dress and our dairy and meat industry if we keep losing bees.

“They also pollinate one third of the world’s food, which is basically every fruit and vegetable that has a seed and a pip. Without bees, we would be living on wind pollinated food such as grains and rice. They [bees] give humans a healthy diet.”

The Ministry for Primary Industries has released a handbook offering practical guidance on how to plant strategically to feed bees, in an effort to ensure a wide range of flowering plants in spring and autumn, when bees are most at risk of pollen and nectar shortages.

Dr Angus McPherson, Trees for Bees farm planting adviser and trustee, said in a statement released by MPI, that “bees all around the world are facing a number of threats, including pests, disease and pesticides”.

“The best weapon against these threats is to provide our bees with a steady supply of forage to help them stay healthy and strong,” he said.

Steve Penno, MPI’s director of investment programmes, said planting essential bee forage as part of farm management would ensure a viable and sustainable future for Aotearoa’s bees, beekeepers, and farmers.

“Honeybee health is crucial because bees are the foundation of agricultural production in the New Zealand economy.”