Is it too late to stop Asian hornets in Europe? 8 questions answered

The Asian hornet is believed to have arrived in southwestern France in a shipment of pottery from Shanghai in 2004. Since then, it has spread across France, expanded into neighbouring countries, and was recently detected in Hungary and Slovakia. 

Eric Darrouzet, a researcher at the University of Tours, has been studying Asian hornets for over a decade. Watch the interview to learn more about this fearsome predator. 

Why are Asian hornets a concern?

An Asian hornet colony consumes approximately 11 kg of insects annually, and in France, they are believed to cause 20–50% of honeybee deaths. 

‘For us, it’s a calamity’, French beekeeper Alain Vaillant told Euronews. ‘This is just another in a long list of problems such as climate change, monoculture, pesticides and parasites,’ he said. 

In 2014, the European Union introduced the Invasive Alien Species (IAS) Regulation, a framework addressing 88 invasive species of concern – 41 plants and 47 animals. Member states are required to take measures to prevent and manage their spread.

How is France fighting the spread of the Asian hornet?

In 2017, France launched a national plan to combat invasive species. The French authorities now encourage the trapping of Asian hornets and the systematic detection and destruction of nests. However, the population has continued to grow.

A bill recently presented to the French Parliament aims to step up the fight against this insect and offer compensation to beekeepers.

‘Too little has concretely been put in place since the EU list was drawn up. With each lost season, the hornet continues to develop’, French Senator Michel Masset told Euronews.

‘There are small things that are deemed insufficiently important. But we have to treat them as they are ruining lives,’ the senator added.

According to Darrouzet, the species used to spread 60–80 km annually in France. He claims that, although control campaigns have slowed this pace, the hornet is still making leaps and bounds, sometimes due to human transport.

‘That’s probably how they crossed the Pyrenees into Spain, ended up in England and recently in Hungary. We must have transported it,’ Darrouzet said.

Is it too late to get rid of Asian hornets?

There are places where Asian hornet populations have successfully disappeared, such as Mallorca in 2020. But according to Darrouzet, ‘the hornet’s playground is now too large in Europe’ and the prospects for eradication are virtually nil. 

‘If we are effective, we can reduce the population to a socially acceptable level and limit its impact on agriculture, beekeeping, human health and biodiversity,’ says the researcher, who is working on a new trapping system.   

His work focuses on pheromones hornets release when threatened. He warns that certain trapping and nest destruction methods using chemicals or indiscriminate techniques may harm biodiversity. 

Eric Darrouzet calls for lessons to be learnt, at a time when other hornets species have been detected, such as the Oriental hornet near Marseille and the Soror hornet in Spain.  

‘We need to put substantial financial resources into the field quickly. What we need to remember is that if we don’t act, one population could invade the whole of Europe.’