National Survey on disease prevalence in managed honeybee colonies

Update May 15th 2014:

The survey has started with selected beekeepers.

Dear Beekeeper,
One of the aims of National Apiculture Programme 2013-2016 is to carry out a national survey to assess the prevalence of diseases in the managed honeybee colonies and determine the racial status of the Irish honeybee population. To achieve this we need to collect adult bees and comb samples from approximately 150-200 beekeepers randomly selected in different geographical regions during the two active seasons (2014/2015). To ensure that our test sample is representative of Irish beekeeping; a stratified random sampling method is necessary. This is simply that the entire beekeeper population is divided into geographical regions and then a random sample is selected from each of these regions. This could easily be achieved by making a random selection from the full list of beekeepers affiliated to FIBKA, but due to Data Protection issues this is not an option. Therefore it is necessary to compile a list of beekeepers names who have confirmed their willingness to participate in the survey and from this list we will select our 150-200 beekeepers. To guarantee that our selected ‘cohort’ of beekeepers best represent beekeeping in Ireland we need the selection list to be as complete as possible. To ensure its completeness we would like all affiliated beekeepers to confirm their willingness to be included in the selection list by forwarding their name/address and email address. This can be easily done by:

  • Contacting your local secretary, confirm your willingness and subsequently your name/address/email will be sent to us (John Breen/Mary F Coffey) by the secretary
  • Click on the ‘link’ below and this will allow you to submit your personal details automatically
  • Email you name/address/email address directly to Mary F Coffey.

Beekeepers names collected using the different methods will be collated into a single list and it is from this list that 150-200 individual beekeepers will be randomly selected and invited individually to participate in the survey using email or post. Any selected beekeeper at this point who wishes not to participate or are unable to participate for what ever reason will be given the opportunity to decline the invitation and as coordinators we will continue to select replacements randomly until we have approximately a “cohart” of 100 beekeepers which are representative of Irish beekeeping. Personal information acquired during this selection process will be protected under the privacy policy regulated by Directive 95/46/EC of the European parliament. Each participating beekeeper will be given a specific code which will be only known to the database supervisor (Prof. John Breen) and coordinator (Mary F Coffey).

Our endeavour is to have the full list compiled by the 1st April, thus allowing sufficient time to individually invite the select 150-200 beekeepers and start the survey in late April this year. More specific details on the actual survey will published in an article in the April Edition of An Beachaire.

Thanking you

Mary F

Dr Mary F Coffey

University of Limerick

Limerick

Tel: 086 4033676

Link removed as survey started.

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