Beekeeper responds to Brunswick County’s aerial mosquito spraying

BRUNSWICK COUNTY, NC (WWAY) — Brunswick County will begin aerial spraying for mosquitoes tomorrow and continue through next Friday. Residents have expressed concerns about whether the spraying will harm insects, bees, and pets.

David Howard, the Brunswick County health director, acknowledged these concerns but reassured the public. “We are seeing a tripling and quadrupling of volumes of mosquitoes, and again with the disease cases we’ve seen, it presents a risk to public health.”

He emphasized that the county is confident in the science behind the spraying, which aims to minimize risk.

“It’s a very, very low volume of product in the solution, and it’s designed to aerosolize and impact the mosquito population at night when other insects, like dragonflies, are less active,” Howard said.

Master beekeeper Ken Edgar expressed his trust in the county’s approach. “There is very little that I can do. They are going to try to mitigate it by spraying in the evening when bees aren’t out foraging, and from my understanding, they are using something that doesn’t have a large residual impact.”

Edgar also mentioned a resource for fellow beekeepers to ease their concerns.

“Field Watch” is a website that allows beekeepers to register their hives.

This registration helps the Department of Agriculture maintain a record of hive locations, aiding in determining areas to avoid during spraying.

“Praying is about all I can do. I just got off the site making sure that my location was listed, so hopefully that will cover me,” Edgar added.

The county’s communication director, Meagan Kascsak, mentioned that information about the spraying has been shared on various social media platforms and the homepage of the county’s website. Brunswick County has also reached out to beekeepers with registered hives to inform them about the spraying.

For more information, visit Brunswick County’s website.