Article content continued

“I remember having to stop at a gas station without needing gas to clean off my windshield and grill, just covered in insects … now I can go back and forth 10 times and I don’t need to clean.”

Ecosystems without pollinators would be in a very depraved situation

Wild bee species are responsible for every one in three bites of food at the supper table and help maintain natural ecosystems, but the government has no standard measures for counting or protecting them.

“Management companies don’t need to report what the prevalence of bees are or where the bees go,” said Sheila Colla, an assistant professor of Environmental Studies at York University.

“We haven’t learned our lesson yet from other wild stock … People don’t realize the vast majority of free pollination comes from wild bees.”

Right now, eight wild bee species are listed under Canada’s species risk registry. The rusty-patched bumble bee, gypsy cuckoo bumble bee and the macropis cuckoo bee have lost at least 50 per cent of their total population and are classified as endangered, which grants them protection.

The sable island sweat bee and western bumble bee occidentalis subspecies are threatened while the American bumble bee, yellow-banded bumble bee and western bumble bee mckayi subspecies have a special concern status — both categories mean at least 30 per cent of their total population is gone, but only threatened species receive any further safety.

And Callaghan says the species on the list are only the ones we know about.

“I’m concerned this isn’t a chicken little thing,” she said. “I don’t think we’ve recognized the value of pollinators and haven’t done much in the way of addressing the problem … Ecosystems without pollinators would be in a very depraved situation.”