Marine Discovery Center Monthly Lecture Series
The Journey of Bees and Beekeepers – Understanding Our Partnership With This Amazing Insect

When: Thursday, May 17 2018 at 6:00 p.m. (Honey tasting 5:00-6:00 p.m.)

Where: Marine Discovery Center, 520 Barracuda Blvd, NSB, 32169

Cost: FREE

The lecture is open to the public at no charge and no reservations are required.

For more information about the lecture, contact the Marine Discovery Center at 386-428-4828.

“The Journey of Bees and Beekeepers – Understanding Our Partnership With This Amazing Insect” will be the topic of the Marine Discovery Center’s May public lecture.

Doug McGinnis, who has served for nine years on the National Honey Board, and has been an officer in the National Honey Packers and Dealers Association, as well as the American Beekeeping Federation, will be the guest speaker.

The presentation is set for Thursday, May 17, starting at 6 p.m. The lecture is hosted by the Marine Discovery Center, located at 520 Barracuda Boulevard in New Smyrna Beach.

A special honey tasting will take place at the center prior to the lecture from 5-6 p.m. Several varieties of locally sourced honey, including black mangrove honey and Brazilian pepper honey, will be available for tasting and purchase at MDC during that time.

At the lecture, McGinnis will discuss the role and duties of beekeepers today as they carry bees around the country to make honey and pollinate food crops, and how this corresponds to the life cycle of honeybees.

Florida is among the nation’s top honey-producing states, and because of its warm climate hundreds of thousands of honeybee colonies are carried throughout the state by migratory beekeepers. This movement is compounding the problems facing honeybee colonies, however, whether from diseases, pests, pesticides or other environmental stresses.

McGinnis will talk about the variety of Florida honey plants and how the bees produce honey from their nectar, including the coastal region’s black mangrove trees. He will also discuss how the honey supply is dependent on pollination, what pollen is, and what pollen does for the honeybees.

In addition, McGinnis will help the public learn how to help Florida’s bee population, and will talk about some of the work being done at the University of Florida Bee Lab to combat the loss of bees and improve the knowledge of beekeepers.

McGinnis has been involved in beekeeping and honey production for most of his life. His family’s business, Tropical Blossom Honey Co., of Edgewater, Fla., sold honey products from Florida beekeepers throughout the nation and to more than 20 countries.

Currently McGinnis serves on the Board of Trustees of the Atlantic Center for the Arts and keeps his beehives at ACA’s New Smyrna Beach campus.

The May lecture is open to the public at no charge and no reservations are required. Early arrival is recommended, as seating is limited.

For more information about the lecture, contact the Marine Discovery Center at 386-428-4828.