Council Buzzing About Bees

Moose Jaw City Council was buzzing on Monday evening as the issue of regulating beekeeping in the city was the topic with an expert in the field taking the sting out of the proposed policy.

Jens Pederson, past president of the Regina and District Bee Club, said he was in favour of the City regulating beekeepers but Council needed to do so in a manner which protected not only the public but the industry itself.

Council was considering a policy regulating beekeepers after a resident complained bees from a neighbouring apiarist were invading her yard and endangering a family member that is allergic.

Pederson addressed Council for about ten minutes where he not only recommended changes to the proposed policy but also the art of beekeeping.

The proposed changes Administration was proposing would amongst other things force beekeepers to keep adequate water on their property for their bees, limit the number of hives, have fences mandatory between hives and neighbours and set hives back a set distance back from property lines.

“One of the challenges that we in the industry have had is actually dealing with some of the misinformation and myths that are out there,” he said.

Pederson spoke briefly about the 300 bee species native to Saskatchewan - many of which are endangered - as well as the non-native honeybees.

“None of our native species are honeybees. Honeybees are an introduced species from Europe, from Asia and they are not native to North America.”

An example of some of the native bees found in the province

Pederson said honybee keeping had roots in agriculture and had to be adapted depending where the bees are located.

“What works in one part of the world does not necessarily work here. But a lot of people do not understand that so we see lots of YouTube videos, social media posts about this is how you should keep your bees, but what works in Florida doesn’t work in Saskatchewan. Conversly what works in Australia doesn’t work in Saskatchewan.”

One of the myths Pederson addressed was that honeybee beekeeping is 100 percent good for the environment.

“There are advantages and there are disadvantages namely honeybees compete for resources with our native bee species and can also introduce new pathogens and diseases to native bee species.”

He also spoke about the myth that synthetic chemicals should never be used with bees.

“Another myth is that pesticides are causing honeybees to be wiped out. Or that honeybees could go extinct. Honeybees are an agriculturally managed species and there is no more risk of honeybees going extinct as there is of cows or chickens or pigs,” Pederson said.

He said he somewhat agreed with the City but they should be regulating beekeepers as bees will be in the city whether they are wanted or not.

“Your main task is to manage the people who want to keep bees in the city. I would submit that your primary objective should be to avoid and prevent honeybees from becoming a nuisance to other members of the public and to property owners,” Pederson said.

Urban beekeepers and hobbyists have the potential to bring a disease or pathogen outbreak which could endanger the agricutural industry in the province and those who earn a living from beekeeping.

“There are lots of good reasons for City Council to have a policy on this…honey bees can become a nuisance like any other animal. Just like feral cats or dogs. So I think it is worthwhile for City Council to be going into this,” Pederson said.

He said there were some things very good in the policy being considered.

“It talks about limiting the number of hives on a property and I think that is a very laudible and good objective…the more beehives you have the more potential for those bees to become a nuisance to their neighbours,” he said.

With honeybees able to fly up to five kilometers from their hive Pedeson said bees are not just a concern to adjacent neighbours but in a wide area.

“They can potentially become a nuisance to anywhere in the city.”

The policy by focusing on education and good beekeeping practices as well as swarms were good areas to have a policy on, he said.

Pederson said there are four key areas a policy should address and they are:

• swarms

• managing water

• defensive behaviour

• managing diseases and pests

“Many property owners don’t appreciate sharing their hot tubs, pool and perhaps their kids little play station they are playing with in the backyard. They don’t enjoy sharing that with thousands of bees from a neighbour,” he said. “Bees can become defensive if they are not managed properly. And that ends up with some people getting stung.”

The original complaint raised with Council was a neighbour of a beekeeper whose bees were going next door and making the woman and her family members unable to enjoy her backyard and they claimed to have been stung by bees especially near their water feature in the yard.

"Despite agreeing with the need for the City to have a policy Pederson had some concerns with the policy.

“The policy mentions a solid barrier or a fence. A very good plan. What I would suggest instead of it saying simply a fence it should be a barrier because a hedge works just as well as a fence does. It could be any barrier it does not have to just be a fence,” he said.

Pederson said the proposed setback of hives from the property line was a policy which would not be effective.

“It’s an irrelevant consideration…whether the hive is right on the property line, or ten feet away or 20 feet away from the property line it is not going to make any difference…the important thing is the barrier…and the height of the hive.”

On the issue of swarms Pederson felt the “regular inspection” dictated in the policy was not specific enough and that inspections should be every 10 - 14 days.

Congestion in the policy needed to be changed to include that beekeepers should add boxes or supers to their hives in order to fight the potential of swarming.

“Be blatant. Be clear. This is probably the number one thing that beekeepers need to do to prevent swarms.”

About listing the breed of bee in the policy Pederson said expert beekeepers let alone beginner beekeepers have a hard time to determine the breed and the proposed policy in this area should be deleted.

“In overall terms it is a great policy”

Council Discussion

Councillor Crystal Froese asked if there were any qualifications a beekeeper had to have in order to register with the Province. Under Saskatchewan law all hives must be registered with the Province.

“All the Province is looking to do is to know where bees are. Their role is limited to managing and preventing disease outbreaks. Their objective is to protect the agricultural beekeeping industry,” Pederson replied adding that the Regina club was working hard over the past six or seven years to educate beekeepers to make the hobby and industry better.

Councillor Swanson felt that the Province should be responsible for beekeepers and the City should not become involved in regulation.

“I don’t believe we should be adopting a policy…beekeeping is regulated by the Province and they have an act for it. I am increasingly a fan of small government so I don’t know why we would require to need a policy that is replete with ‘should bes’ and ‘are encouraged’. What kind of policy is that going to be of you should do this but it is not required? It is not something we should be involved in,” Councillor Swanson said. “We shouldn’t be increasing the bureaucracy of the City of Moose Jaw with policies that say you should do this and you are enouraged to do this when it is all covered by provincial legislation.”

Councillor Froese said she “completely disagreed” with Councillor Swanson because the City was “the ones who hear about an issue first.”

She felt an amendment was needed that not only required beekeepers to register with the Province but they also must tell the City about their hives and their location plus a copy of their valid provincial certificate.

“That way we know the person has actually registered with the Province. They have read the Act. They actually have an understanding on how to keep bees. And I think that it safeguards neighbours as well…it does give us the opportunity to help on behalf of neighbours who might be having issues in this,” she said.

At present there are nine beekeepers in Moose Jaw registered with the Province but the information is not available to the City.

The issue of bees having sufficient water was an issue.

“It was pretty apparent that the person keeping the bees must not have had enough water as she (the neighbour) could sit on her deck and watch them come back and forth. So I think that this is good to have people in our city register,” she said.

Councillor Scott McMann asked if the proposed policy was adopted if it would allow bylaw officers to check on the number of hives a person has on their property.

Director of planning Michelle Sanson replied “they would be able to if there were too many hives. The ones that are existing could be grandfathered in if they were beyond the two…any new ones would have to comply with the requirements of this policy.”

“I support it then. I think we have to give our citizens some type of recourse or somewhere to go if all of a sudden they are next to a swarming hive of bees or whatever and not acting as they are suppose to,” Councillor McMann said.

Council agreed to table the proposed beekeeping policy until their next meeting to allow for the proposed amendment to be written into the policy.