Protecting the Maltese Honey Bee

As part of the District project SOS API, RC La Valette President Godfrey Swain and RC Malta Jelle Houstsma-Grech signed a partnership agreement with Dylan Farrugia, President of The Foundation to Protect the Maltese Honey Bee. This aligns with Rotary’s values and commitment to the environment. Equally important is the bee’s vital role in Malta’s biodiversity and its deep connection to the nation’s cultural heritage. While the Maltese clubs have gladly adhered to the project’s activities in Sicily by purchasing beehives there, we have initiated this project in Malta, where our autochthonous bees risk extinction.

By signing this agreement on 25th November 2024, we became the first sponsors of this new NGO, which has successfully had the ‘Apis mellifera ruttneri’ declared the National Insect of Malta. We have acquired and adopted two beehives with their relative queens and swarms, giving them two significant  names:

‘PDG Gaetano De Bernardis’, in honour and remembrance of Governor de Bernardis, in

whose year this project started.

The other hive, for obvious reasons, is called ‘Rotary International’.

In thanking the Rotary Clubs, President Dylan Farrugia declared, ‘This collaboration not only strengthens the efforts to protect the Maltese Honey Bee but also paves the way for

sustainable apiculture and raising awareness about the importance of conserving Malta’s natural heritage‘. Rot Patricia Salomone, entrusted by District Sicily Malta 2110 with organizing activities related to the conservation of the bee population, said, ‘The Club Members look forward to visiting the beehives when these are established.’

The first visit took place on 12th May at Gnien Sir Alexander Ball in Safi, where the hives are kept by beekeeper Perit Jorge Spiteri, who gave the club members a very interesting talk about the specificity of Maltese bees, their habits, and the excellent products they produce.