The NSW government says it implemented the "gold standard" in surveillance to ensure beekeepers can continue pollinating crops around the state without spreading the varroa mite.
The Varroa destructor mite was detected two months ago and has been found in 99 sites around NSW, but it hasn't yet escaped into the wild or been found in other states.
Eighty-eight government staff are staffing two surveillance sites in Griffith and Balranald to inspect hives as 90 beekeepers moved 80,000 hives to the region to pollinate the almond crop.
Almost 1,000 permits have been issued to move the bees, and apiarists must do an online course through the Tocal agricultural college as part of the requirements.
Victorian authorities criticised
The CEO of the almond industry Tim Jackson said the success of the surveillance effort was a "big win" for the industry, but Victorian authorities had not matched it.
He criticised other states for not implementing the national plan for control of varroa.
"We're expected to feed in millions of dollars into the national plan, but NSW is the only state that has implemented it," Mr Jackson said.
"Collaboration has fallen down with different appetites for risk."
Initially, the Victorian government banned bees from NSW from entering the Sunraysia region, but in July, it allowed up to 16,000 registered Victorian beehives stranded in southern New South Wales by the outbreak to return home and also allowed Queensland hives into the state for almond pollination.
But New South Wales bees are still banned from moving into Victoria, with the state's Chief Plant Health Officer Rosa Crnov saying the risk remained too high.
This has again changed today with Agriculture Victoria announcing minor changes to varroa management — with South Australian and Queensland beekeepers now requiring a permit to move bees into the state, which Dr Crnov said brought them in line with other states and territories.
Mr Jackson said the ban had cost the almond industry a lot of money in lost production.
"The industry is down $200m to $300m in Victoria alone because of the lack of bees."
The NSW Agriculture Minister Dugald Saunders said the Victorian position was "disappointing", and it could have been avoided.
"I'm not going to tell them what to do, but I'm slightly confused about why they don't want to be part of the solution and using our permit system to guarantee that there is a safety protocol in place for their almonds."
Agriculture Victoria has been contacted for comment about the criticism.
