West Australian beekeepers have taken protecting their species from varroa mite to the next level with high-tech biosecurity along the remote Eyre Highway.

AI-enabled sentry hives will soon line the main route from South Australia, using cameras and 4G to detect the destructive pest.

Traditional sentinel hives rely on manual inspections, while the new AI bee sentry hives use smart cameras and real-time data to detect threats.

The parasitic varroa mite was detected in New South Wales in 2022 and has since spread to Queensland, Victoria and South Australia .

Bee Industry Council of WA (BICWA) vice chair Mikey Cernotta said the new technology was developed with a federal government grant and "wasn't a silver bullet, but a start."

"What we learned from the NSW incursion of varroa mite w

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