The destruction of hundreds of beehives in Newcastle and parts of New South Wales is underway as authorities try to control the spread of a deadly disease.
The detection of the varroa destructor - commonly known as the varroa mite in the Port of Newcastle last week triggered a 10 kilometer eradication zone and halted all movement of bees across the state.
The Department of Primary Industries and Local Land Services has a goal of 300 hives in the zone that will be destroyed over the next few days.
So far, there have been six sentinel hives and three private hives destroyed and will continue over the next day or so, NSW Agriculture Minister Dugald Saunders said.
One hundred and twenty hives were destroyed yesterday in Trangie after government contact tracers found a commercial beekeeper near the port had recently sent some of his hives to the region.
Although there was no detection of the actual mite in the hive at Trangie, the decision was made to destroy them as well, according to Mr Saunders, as they were from the same property.
He said that investigations were underway to find out if there were other possible movements that may have spread the parasite.
We're doing a lot of investigative work to see where other hives have travelled.
Peter King is a 130-year-old beekeeping supply business in Cardiff and says a new sense of optimism has been ruined in the sector.
When COVID took off people got into it beekeeping and we have been like that for the last couple of years, he said.
Things have started to slow down again and we're devastated with this. The thought of destroying hives was devastating, according to Kurri Kurri apiarist Col Wilson.
Commercial blueberry farmer Vik Momi said the orders meant he could no longer move the bees he currently had on his Glenreagh property to the crops that needed them.
He said that plants are going to start flowering soon and that we have to move them into the summer crop.
My beekeeper says he can't move them under the NSW guidelines and he is only allowed to move them no more than 3 metres. Mr Momi said he relied on bees to pollinate his crop and make sure his fruit was up to consumer standards.
Pollination improves fruit quality and is very important for everything, he said.
They make them juicier, bigger and tastier.
The effects of a major stop to bee movement or a widespread varroa mite outbreak will affect more than just blueberries.
Some 35 agricultural industries rely on bee pollination are almonds, apples and cherries.
The ABC has contacted various fruit and vegetable industry bodies, many of whom said it could be a number of weeks before an impact on produce prices is known.
The price is difficult to predict with an unknown end date for movement restrictions.