Over the past month, beekeepers in Nantou County’s Puli Township, where beekeeping is important, have discovered bees dying off in large numbers. Initial estimates are that 4,000 beehives have been affected. The main culprit is suspected to be fipronil contaminants in pollen, although the agricultural authorities are yet to offer any clarification on this.
養蜂很盛的南投縣埔里鎮養蜂業者近一個月間發現蜜蜂大量死亡，初估四千個蜂箱遭殃，疑似肇因於芬普尼等農藥污染花粉。農政單位將釐清蜜蜂死因。
A Puli beekeeper surnamed Liang interviewed on Thursday said that there are a total of 270 hives on his bee farm, and each hive can sustain 30,000 to 40,000 bees. He recently discovered that the bees were gradually dying off. He initially put it down to a one-off phenomenon, but the situation went from bad to worse from mid- to late August, with almost half the population of one hive dying off.
埔里鎮一名梁姓蜂農上週四接受採訪說，他的養蜂場共兩百七十個蜂箱，每箱可養三萬、四萬隻蜜蜂。日前他發現蜜蜂陸續死亡，起初認為是偶發現象，但蜜蜂死亡情形八月中旬到月底期間轉趨嚴重，一箱蜜蜂死亡率逾五成。
Many other beekeepers have discovered a similar situation, and although the exact number of bee deaths has yet to be calculated, the losses are considerable. The authorities carried out an on-site inspection last Tuesday to obtain more information, and are not ruling out the possibility that it has been caused by recent pesticide spraying on betel nut trees. They have collected samples of dead bees on which to carry out further tests, to ascertain the real reason behind their deaths.
多名蜂農也發現類似情形，蜜蜂死亡數量待統計，損失慘重。農政機關上週二到場了解，不排除為附近檳榔樹噴灑農藥導致，已採集死亡蜜蜂檢驗，以釐清原因。
According to Nantou County Department of Agriculture Director Chen Jui-ching, bees are designated as an environmentally sensitive species, and are vulnerable to climate factors — such as last year’s mass deaths due to the cold snap — and agricultural chemicals. As the weather has not been as hot as in previous years, farmers suspect the large numbers of bee deaths have been caused by bees returning to the hive with contaminated pollen, which have then affected the other bees in the colony.
南投縣政府農業處長陳瑞慶說，蜜蜂屬於環境敏感生物，可能因氣候因素、環境用藥影響，出現死亡情形，如去年寒害造成蜜蜂大量死亡。但最近氣溫不像先前那麼炎熱，因此蜂農懷疑環境用藥污染花粉，蜜蜂採集回蜂箱後，影響其他蜜蜂導致大量死亡。
Source article: http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/lang/archives/2017/09/06/2003677862