Last week the Atlantic Tech Transfer Team for Apiculture attended the PEI Beekeepers’ Association Annual General Meeting. The event occurred in Charlottetown, PE on February 28th and was attended by more than 70 beekeepers and industry representatives from across the Maritime region. The meeting provided a great opportunity for beekeepers to network, learn about the island beekeeping industry and consisted of multiple great speakers on a wide range of informative topics. Some of the highlights of the event are presented below.
Review of the PEI Beekeepers' Association Annual General Meeting 2026
The past
Saturday marks the largest attendance of the PEI Beekeepers’ Association
(PEIBA) annual general meeting to date, with over 70 beekeepers and industry
representatives in attendance. The meeting not only had good island
representation, but beekeepers from across the Maritimes were in attendance,
and there were virtual presentations from industry experts both nationally and
internationally.
To start the
day, Troy Fraser (PEIBA president) conducted the annual business meeting.
Currently, the PEIBA has 95 members which consists of beekeepers, supporters of
the industry and students. Their membership has had steady growth over the past
few years, which was reflected by the high meeting attendance.
Karen
Thurlow (past Chief Apiary Inspector of New Brunswick) gave two talks during
the meeting. The first talk was on examining dead hives. Investigating why a
colony dies, at any time in the year, is important to help beekeepers
understand how they potentially could have prevented colony loss and aim to prevent
similar mistakes in the future. Colony loss can occur from a variety of reasons
such as pests and diseases, poor queens, weather events, pesticide exposure,
starvation, weak colonies and synergistic effects. Many reasons that colonies
die can be prevented with proper beekeeper management, but to identify the
reason for colony loss beekeepers must examine dead colonies. Later in the day,
Karen gave a second presentation discussing a wide variety of tips, tricks and
advice for managing honey bee colonies in the Maritimes.
Cameron
Menzies (PEI provincial apiarist) gave an update on the island beekeeping industry.
In 2025 there was approximately 30 commercial beekeepers managing over 5000
colonies. The number of PEI hives provided for pollination was an estimated
4675. Additionally, the province imported 3472 colonies for pollination from
Ontario and British Columbia. The average rental price for a PEI colony for pollination
in 2025 was $228. For honey production, there was an estimated 4000 honey
producing hives with an average of 30lbs per hive this past season. During
provincial inspections there was no detected American foulbrood or Small Hive
Beetle in the province, and detected Varroa mite levels were low (less than 1%).
Last winter (2024-2025) the island had a sustainable winter loss of 23% of
colonies, and beekeepers are optimistic that winter loss for 2025-2026 will
continue a trend of low winter loss.
Pascal
Michaud (AgroGene Solutions – Moncton, NB) discussed the results of the various
testing being offered by the Agrogene Solutions lab. Pascale provided insight
to the various honey bee pathogens that are detected within the Maritime region’s
colonies including viruses, bacteria, mites and fungi. To learn more about the
various testing offered by Agrogene Solutions visit their website: https://www.agrogenesolutions.com/.
Geoff Wilson
(Saskatchewan provincial apiculturist) discussed the biology of the
Tropilaelaps mite, and the threat the pest presents to the Canadian beekeeping
industry. Geoff is one of few Canadian beekeepers who has had first-hand
experience learning about Tropilaelaps mites in both Thailand and the country
of Georgia where the mite is prevalent in honey bee colonies. Geoff discussed
some of the biological aspects of the Tropilaelaps mite that have the potential
to make the pest more damaging than Varroa mites to honey bees, such as their short
reproduction cycle, and differences in feeding mechanisms. One interesting
aspect of the Tropilaelaps mite lifecycle, that is different from Varroa mites,
is that the Tropilaelaps mite only spends 1-2 days each reproductive cycle on
adult bees, and, generally, the mite is not thought to survive in a broodless
colony for an extended period of time. Given that in Northern climates colonies
have a broodless period of a couple months or more each winter this mite may
not establish well in Canadian climates. Geoff also discussed potential routes
of introduction of the Tropilaelaps mite to North America, potential monitoring
methods and potential treatment methods. Overall, there is still a lot of
unknowns around the risk and management of Tropilaelaps mites to the North American
beekeeping industry. To learn about the Tropilaelaps mite there will be a session
occurring on March 13th during the New Brunswick Beekeepers’ Association
Annual General Meeting, which beekeepers are welcome to attend in-person or
virtually (Zoom link will be provided through the Maritime provincial beekeeping
associations next week). Visit https://nbba.ca/
for more information on the event.
One of the
final presentations of the day was from Paulo Mielgo (Vita Bee Health –
Argentina) who discussed the product VarroxSanTM which has recently
been approved by the Canadian Pest Management Regulatory Agency to manage Varroa
mites (see past blog “New Varroa Mite Treatment Product: VarroxSanTM”
published on November 13, 2025 for details of the PMRA label). Paulo discussed
the efficacy of the product which was tested in multiple independent laboratories
and apiaries, and it was demonstrated that when properly administered to a
colony the product has an average efficacy of greater than 95% mite mortality. Overall,
VarroxSanTM provides the industry with another Varroa mite treatment
option, and it is one of few that is allowed to be used with honey supers on.
To conclude the
event Troy Fraser presented the Golden Smoker Award to Jonathan and Jennifer Gillis.
The Golden Smoker Award recognizes new beekeepers who have started
beekeeping within the last 5 years and have expanded their operation on a
yearly basis providing pollination for Island fruit crops.
Thank you to
all the organizers of this great event, and to all of the presenters for their
knowledge and expertise they bring to the industry.
Connecting with ATTTA Specialists
If you’d like to connect with ATTTA specialists or learn more about our program, you can:
visit our website at https://www.perennia.ca/portfolio-items/honey-bees/
Email attta@perennia.ca