BeesA;/ Development Journal 76 BEEKEEPING IN GREENLAND

BEEKEEPING IN GREENLAND O/e Hertz, Denmark

The apiary at the Narsarsuaq Arboretum

This project started in 1998 as an investigationinto the possibility of keeping honeybees inSouth Greenland, and continued for four years.There were two reasons why the project wasneeded: to create new income-generatingactivities among the poorest sheep farmers;and to create new genetic reserves ofBlack bees.

Black bees in Denmark threatened

The Black bee Apis mellifera meltitera hasbeen protected by law on the Island of Laese.The Island was the only place remaining inDenmark with this race of honeybees.However, as described in BfDJJA, the DanishGovernment has spoiled that protection bychanging the law so that other races of beesare now permitted on Laes0 Island. This isagainst what Denmark had signed for at the RioConference in 1992 and against advice fromscientists. Since the law of bee protection wasintroduced for Laes0 there had always been afew local beekeepers trying to spoil theprotective work, and there was interest toestablish a more secure genetic reserve.

South Greenland was a potential location forthis new genetic reserve if beekeeping waspossible there, and if local people wereinterested. A minimum of 200 colonies areneeded to create an effective reserve. Thereare no indigenous honeybees or solitary beesin Greenland, although two species ofbumblebees are present. This means that noother races of honeybees could mix with theBlack bees, and since bumblebees andhoneybees have no diseases or parasites incommon, there was no risk of introducing newpathogens for the indigenous bees.

Honeybees would not be able to survive andspread out of control in Greenland in the sameway as rabbits or sparrows did whenintroduced to Australia, so it should not beirresponsible to try beekeeping in Greenland.The Black bees belong to a unique race ofhoneybees, with special genetic abilities,which must be protected as part of nature'sdiversity, and to be able to breed from them inthe future.

Conditions for beekeeping

Most people associate Greenland with snowand ice, but that is not the whole story.Greenland is so large that if it were placed atthe top of Europe, it would stretch from Norwayto North Africa. The southern part of Greenlandis on the same latitude as Oslo and Stockholm.The climate in South Greenland is arctic, but itcan be temperate near to some of the fjords.This means that the mean temperature for thewarmest month is above +10°C, with somedays more than +20°C. The mean temperaturefor the coldest month is -3°C. The wintertemperature is no problem for bees. In Finland,for example, there is beekeeping north of thepolar Qircle where the winter temperature canbe -30 to -40°C, and there is beekeeping inAlaska and Siberia. The critical point iswhether the temperature during the summermonths is high enough for the bees to fly.

In South Greenland the land around the deepfjords seems to be excellent for beekeeping,but the archipelago along the outer coast is notso good. That is due to both its climate andvegetation. The vegetation inland can be forestof hairy white birch and northern willow, withmost trees 4-5 m high. There is a gradual

transition from forest through copse to heathwhen moving from inland to the outer coast.

Northern willow is an especially good nectarproducer and it is the main bee plant in theinner areas. Other plants of interest forbeekeeping are purple saxifrage, broad-leafedwillow-herb, angelica, common harebell,lacerate dandelion and arctic thyme. In totalthere are 500 species of plants in Greenland.It seems that the arctic plants produce morenectar compared with temperate plants, maybebecause they are competing for the pollinatinginsects. Climate and vegetation are noproblem for beekeeping, but areas with toomany sheep can be so heavily grassed that fewflowering plants remain.

The peoples' interest f*

The main income in Greenland comes fronrfisheries and the fishing industry. However, inSouth Greenland 60 households make a livingfrom sheep farming, potato and sugar beetgrowing. Some of these families have a verylow surplus of money, and are in need ofsupplementary income. Beekeeping has beentried before: in 1951 six colonies were given asa gift from Danish beekeepers to Greenlandfarmers. Four colonies survived for three yearsbut two died in the first winter because theywere not fed.

The project

Our project started by collecting experiences of'arctic beekeeping' from beekeepers in northernFinland. Twenty nuclei of bees were made inLaes0, each with about 1.5 kg bees. Thesewere sent in small net boxes on a pallet by airto Greenland, where all the equipment har«Jalready arrived by ship and had been collectedby Greenland project participants. In the sheepfarming village Qasiarsuq. the bees weretransferred to hives and fed. After combs hadbeen built, the bees were distributed toapiaries in the mountains and along the coastin eight different places.

The first summer was very bad with a lot ofrain and wind, but it was possible to harvestsome honey and 18 colonies were prepared forthe winter, each fed with 20 kg sugar.

Nine colonies survived. The next spring theweather was even worse and the bees had towait nine months before they could breedagain. The first years gave the experience thatit was essential that the colonies were strongbefore the winter. The next winters were alsobad with too many dead colonies, but duringthe project period it was found that abeekeeper had illegally imported queens fromthe USA to Laes0, and introduced the trachealmite Acarapisspp. This could be the reason

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BEEKEEPING IN GREENLAND Bees/or Development Journal 76

Eskiid Paviassen shows a nice honeycomb

for the poor winter survival rate both in Laes0and Greenland. We had to treat against themites by biological means and later importedten extra nuclei of bees.

A three-day workshop took place inUpernaviarsuk Farming Research Station andsmaller meetings were held in schools. Abeekeeping handbook was translated toGreenlandic. During the sheep farmers' annualratings, small exhibitions were arranged^wing wax and honey products prepared byGreenland beekeepers. It was very importantfor the success of the project that the localpeople were interested to participate. Usuallymost people in Greenland are afraid of allinsects - even flies, but bees turned out notto be a problem. Over 20 people wanted tobecome beekeepers.

Unfortunately due to the first years of heavywinter loss in both Laes0 and Greenland, itwas difficult to produce enough new coloniesfor all those interested to start beekeeping.but we hope to solve that in the future.

Slowly we learned where the optimum placesfor bees were to be found. There is no doubtthat the inner fjord areas are best if notcrowded with too many sheep. Specialarrangements had to be made to secure thehives against the very strong storms comingfrom inland ice from time to time. Thesolution was to site the apiaries in the mostprotected places and to secure the hives onpallets covered by heavy stones. This

arrangement also creates an air spaceunderneath the hives, which is an advantage ithe hives are covered in snow during thewinter.

We also tried breeding queens and gettingthem to mate with drones. It was possible.The pollinatory effect of the honeybeeintroduction should have been measuredduring the project, but it was not possible tosee any distinct sign because of theenormous area of blooming vegetation. Thebees just fly out and disappear until theyreturn with their heavy loads.

Beekeeping is an income-generating activity

There are now 19 colonies of Black bees inSouth Greenland. Three sheep farminghouseholds are involved in beekeeping and aresearch apiary has been established in theNarsarsuaq Arboretum which has 120.000trees from around the world. This apiary nowbelongs to the Consultants for Agriculture andSheep Farming and our plan is that it willproduce colonies for new beekeepers. Thequeens would come by post from Laes0.During the last three winters there have beenno winter losses except one colony. In theautumn it was taken by a flooded river andfound later by a fisherman, several kilometresaway. When he opened the box a lot of beesflew out and he realised what it was. Hecalled the beekeeper who took the colonyhome, but it did not survive the winter.

The best hives situated among willow herbhave each produced 70-80 kg of honey. Inthe beginning the honey was sold in 40gglass jars at a price of UK£4 each. Nowbecause of greater production, the honey issold at a price of UK£4-5 for 120g jar. Thereare no problems in selling the very tasty andliquid honey. Income from beekeeping isnow the main source for two sheep farminghouseholds. In the same period that thisproject was running, an association ofbeekeepers in Iceland was created with about16 members, and it has been possible toexchange experiences with them.

The project has been'supported financially bythe Velux Foundation, The South GreenlandMunicipalities, The Gene Resource Counciland the Greenland Home Rule Government.

Currency counter at time of going to press£1 = €1.45 = $175£ = UK Pound: € = Euro: $ = US dollar

Beekeeper Eskiid Paviassen with his new vehicle