N.B. beekeepers fear loss of business

New Brunswick beekeepers, reeling from massive losses in their hives, say they are looking at a loss of business for years to come unless they get more help from the province.

A significant portion of a beekeeper's income comes from renting hives out to farmers who need their crops pollinated. With many New Brunswick hives having died out over the winter, the province's farmers are looking as far away as Ontario for bees.

Lake Utopia blueberry grower Russell Hawkins, for example, will take delivery of 50 Ontario hives Tuesday.

George Wheatley, who sits on the board of directors of the New Brunswick Beekeeper's Association,worries that's going to happen more often in the years to come.

"All that money is going out of the province," Wheatley said. "All the jobs that go with it are going out of the province. They bring them in here and we're lucky if we get a tank of gas out of them on the way through. Millions of dollars of pollination money is going out of the province."

Last month, the province announced $100,000 in compensation for the association's 200 beekeepers, which the association said was inadequate to help them recover.

Earlier this year, hundreds of beekeepers in New Brunswick, Ontario and the northeastern United States reported a mysterious disease or parasitewas killing most of their bees.