The Vancouver Sun
Darah Hansen
VANCOUVER - A 30-year ban on the honey bee in Vancouver may, according to this story, come to an end this fall when a staff report re-examining the sticky issue of urban apiaries is expected to come before Vancouver city council for consideration.
Jeff Brooks, director of social planning for the city, was quoted as saying, "What we're doing is just gathering background information right now. We're talking to the provincial people and to other municipalities that allow [honey bees] to find out what the advantages are, what the concerns are and how these other municipalities mitigate those concerns."
The story says that the issue came to council's attention through the city's newly formed Food Policy Council. Community groups involved in the food council asked municipal politicians to take another look at the bee bylaw so urban farmers and gardeners might legally use honey bees as an environmentally friendly means of boosting crop and blossom production.
That such a bylaw even existed came as a surprise to some.
The story explains that keeping of bees in Vancouver has been prohibited by a health bylaw since the 1970s. The bylaw also restricts raising cattle, horses, donkeys and other livestock within city limits.
Still, backyard beehives and balcony bee-boxes have remained in existence, and Jaquie Bunse, an apiary inspector with the provincial Ministry of Agriculture, was cited as saying she knows of at least 30 active beekeepers in Vancouver, adding, "Generally speaking, it's one to two colonies."
At the height of the summer season when pollination is at its peak, each colony will contain an average of 30,000 bees, Bunse said.
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