Nine new cases of the varroa mite have been identified across the New South Wales Central Coast and Hunter regions in a major blow for authorities that have been working to contain the parasite, which is deadly to bees.
The Department of Primary Industries (DPI) says the infested premises are in Glen William, Brookfield, Sawyers Gully, Yarramalong, and as far south as Horsfield Bay, Woy Woy, Koolewong, and Umina Beach.
The Central Coast's red eradication zone has been extended and now covers almost the entire region.
The DPI said this meant all beehives and equipment in the affected areas would have to be destroyed and treatment of wild bee populations on the Central Coast would be prioritised to prevent the mite's spread further south.
Barbara Elkins from the Central Coast Amateur Beekeepers club said the latest outbreak essentially wiped out the local industry.
"Most of them have lost everything again," she said.
"It spreads like bloody COVID and it's worse than trying to put a cloud in a box."
The latest detections bring the total number of infested premises to 131 since varroa mite was first identified at the Port of Newcastle in June last year.
Ms Elkins said her club had now lost its apiary for the fifth time since the outbreak began.
"All the genetic material and genetic stock that we had are gone," she said.
"You can't get the genetic stuff back and we'll slowly probably just forget what we learned."
She said the outbreaks had forced her and others to give up beekeeping.
"We might have lost half our club [and there were] 350 people in the club," she said.
But the DPI's varroa mite response coordinator, Chris Anderson, said the latest outbreaks were not a major cause for alarm "at this stage".
"There are very low numbers of mites in recreational beehives, so maybe one or two mites on a mat," he said.
"So that's telling us [it is] most likely a very recent infestation in those hives.
"If were were finding hundreds or thousands of mites in these hives, then we would be in trouble — but that's not the case."
Ms Elkins hoped this ongoing outbreak would make politicians rethink Australia's biosecurity policies and restrict imports into the country.
"If we could stop anybody bringing any kind of crap in here then we could actually increase the prices of all our beautiful food that we grow here," she said.
"Just keep all that damn other stuff out."
