The Beekeeping Association of Entre Minho e Lima () asked this Monday that national authorities take “concrete and well-directed actions” against the threat of invasion by a new wasp, more dangerous than the Asian one.
Speaking to the Lusa agency, the president of APIMIL, Alberto Dias, explained that a study by the University of Oviedo, in Asturias, Spain, published at the beginning of the month, in the magazine Ecologia e Evolucion, presents the first European record [quatro exemplares] of the presence of the soror wasp, in the municipality of Siero, Asturias, Spain.
According to the study, consulted this Monday by Lusa, the soror wasp may “have been a stowaway, during hibernation”, in the transport of goods.
It has “a peculiar coloration”, and “both sexes are tricolored, with black, dark brown, light brown and yellow areas”.
The species has an “exceptionally large” head and “is an aggressive predator that hunts invertebrates of various sizes, including butterflies, dragonflies, praying mantises and grasshoppers, as well as other wasps and even small vertebrates such as geckos”.
The soror wasp “can cause problems in the health sector, as the sting is very painful and produces long-lasting effects, probably because it has a potent venom.”
Alberto Dias said there is no record of the presence of the soror wasp in Portugal, but warned that “the proximity” of Alto Minho to Galicia, where the species has also not yet been detected, “should make the red lights turn on and the bells ring”, to prevent the Asian wasp “plague” from recurring.
The velutina wasp, commonly known as the Asian wasp, entered Europe through the port of Bordeaux, France, in 2004 and arrived in Alto Minho in 2011.
“When APIMIL detected in Viana do Castelo the presence of a species now known to everyone, the velutina wasp, we were ridiculed and dubbed alarmists and utopians. Today, we can see the result of the utopia of that time”, stated Alberto Dias.
For the president of the beekeepers association, based in Vila Nova de Cerveira, district of Viana do Castelo, “Portugal must have a different attitude towards the soror wasp than it did towards the Asian one”.
According to Alberto Dias, “all entities are aware of the situation and are perfectly aware of the problem in question”, but he considered that “concrete and well-directed actions must be planned and initiated, based on the lessons learned from the velutina wasp”.
“We need to put into practice the lessons learned over more than 10 years”, he complained, stating that he was “concerned about the impact of a new pest on the beekeeping sector”.
“Beekeeping losses due to the presence of this species are a reality worth millions of euros”, he highlighted.
APIMIL has 200 members who work in 70% of the 20 thousand hives registered in the 10 municipalities of the Viana do Castelo district.
The official said that the study carried out by the University of Oviedo highlights that “the presence of the soror wasp in the northern region of the Iberian Peninsula, where the invasive velutina wasp is widespread, could have an increased cumulative and even public health effect already triggered by the wasp velutina.”
“In an impoverished and aging sector (beekeeping), demotivation and the ability to fight against low production and the cost of production factors seriously push for the abandonment of the activity. Interestingly, at the European Union level we see an increase in environmental measures, the need for pollinators, green corridors, where beekeeping has a well-defined role”, he said, rejecting the “let’s see what happens” stance.
Alberto Dias stated that “beekeepers, as well-known people in the spaces where they live, continue to be, perhaps, the most important network in monitoring and combating the velutina wasp”.
For Alberto Dias, “beekeeping is not an action that is carried out occasionally, sporadically”, but “it is a daily ecological activity, of great environmental value in the recovery and maintenance of ecosystems”.
“If Portugal wants to have more beekeepers, if we want to maintain or increase the monitoring network for current and future invasive species through them, we must now enhance beekeeping production, supporting it with concrete measures”, he reinforced.
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