Friday 3rd October 2025 KI Beekeepers met with Minister for Primary Industries Clare Scriven, Georgie Cornish (Head of PIRSA Biosecurity), and Varroa management leaders Adrian Harvey, Josh D’Ambrosio & Bianca Jones (KI Biosecurity Officer).
The round table session in Kingscote gave an update on the current Varroa situation in South Australia and gave KI Beekeepers the good news about increased spending on KI biosecurity which means there will be more biosecurity officers employed and that means biosecurity officers will now cover every ferry at Cape Jervis – stronger protection at KI’s gateway.
PIRSA is putting in sentinel hives to be on the lookout for varroa and other threats like diseases. The hives now in place are at Cape Jervis, Parndana & Kingscote, with a further 7 to be rolled out across Kangaroo Island – bringing the total to 10 early-warning hives.
The group then discussed other ideas to improve biosecurity for KI with a lot of input from the local beekeepers.
Later that day there was another session in Kingscote
with other KI Beekeepers invited to hear the update on SA varroa status and the increased biosecurity for KI.
We had 10 beekeepers attend the sessions which is good for being in business hours. Thank you to those who came in.
Working together to safeguard the world’s last pure Ligurian bees.
The PIRSA announcement on increased biosecurity is a big step in securing the future of KI’s
