Hobart residents will now be free to become hobby apiarists following a decision by the city council to relax restrictions on urban beekeeping.
The council voted to remove a by-law that allowed households to keep just two hives provided they were 50 metres away from the nearest dwelling.
Tasmanian Beekeepers’ Association’s Lindsay Bourke told ABC News that she was “pleased we’ve got rid of those silly ideas and come back to reality”.
The development comes as a reaction to a global trend in urban beekeeping, with many people decided to keep bees in a bid to assist in propping up collapsing populations.
“It’s a growing industry, people are very keen to look after the honey bees because they’re under threat throughout the world,” said Bourke.
More recently, research on the positive medicinal benefits of Australian manuka honey, produced from bees processing nectar from Leptospermum species, has opened up the possibilities for a new sector in the local apiary industry.