— Photo courtesy of BugMan via Flickr

University of Hawaii scientists and all four counties in the state will use a $30,000 pool of money the Legislature appropriated for bee hive research.

Gov. Abercrombie signed House Bill 2100 Monday afternoon and declared the next seven days “Hawaii Polinator Week.”

The motive for the research cash and public awareness effort is the declining bee population in Hawaii. Scientists say losing these primary pollinators poses a serious threat to crops. 

The two culprits are the varroa mite and small hive beetle. The goal is to eliminate this threat to bees in order to save ag economies statewide.

Abercrombie had this to say:

Bees are particularly important as pollinators for our macadamia nut and coffee industries; bee-pollinated crops contribute about $106 million to our local economy.

Check out the news from the gov’s office here.