The fight to eradicate the Asian honey bee threat in north Queensland is taking a more creative twist — using helium balloons booby trapped with pheromones to attract the unwanted pest.

Biosecurity Queensland officers will spend the next six months wandering through Townsville's parks with the devices in a bid to draw out the pests.

Biosecurity officers Andrew Ygosse and Rob Stephens with the pheromone balloons. ( ABC News: Nancy Notzon )

It comes two months after Asian honey bees carrying varroa mites were discovered in a hive at the city's port.

Varroa mites are mainly found in the northern regions of Asia and they infest bee hives, feeding on larvae and ultimately killing them.

A bee hive infected by varroa mites usually dies within three or four years.

The mites are particularly destructive to the European honey bee, which Australia gets most of its honey from.

The parasite found at Townsville port was not the harmful varroa destructor but a relative, varroa jacobsoni.

Given enough time, experts say varroa jacobsoni can adapt, make the switch, and become the killer parasite that has plagued worldwide bee populations.

Ashley Bunce, director of the varroa mite response for Townsville, said it was hoped the balloon plan would help find more Asian honey bees to see if there had been any other incursions.

"Essentially it's a large helium balloon attached to some fishing line, on it has some lures which has the female sex pheromone, which attracts the male bees out," Mr Bunce said.

"So if people see that, don't be alarmed, they're just part of our surveillance technique."

Once bees are caught, they will put into an ethanol solution and tested for the potentially disastrous varroa mite.

"It also preserves the bee and the mite so that if it's sent to the laboratory they can test it, do genetic testing and also under the microscope determine if it is a varroa jacobsoni mite," Mr Bunce said.

"We can also do genetic analysis on those bees as well and see if they're related to any of the other nests that we've found in the Townsville area, or whether there might be new nest that we need to harness our surveillance efforts around that area to try and find.

"We believe we've got the bees relatively early and we're confident we can eradicate the Asian honey bee from the Townsville area.

"But it's important we continue to do surveillance to make sure we can get rid of any bees that might be here."

The balloon technique has been successfully used in other parts of the country to trap European honey bees.

It was adapted by the University of Sydney and is being used to trap Asian honey bees in Cairns, which now has established populations but do not carry the varroa mite.

'There'll be implications Australia-wide if it spreads'

Australian Honey Bee Industry Council executive director Trevor Weatherhead said the program would help in the fight against the pest in Townsville.

"It's something we haven't done before and it's certainly something that will be a very useful tool in our surveillance kit that we have," he said.

"By doing that then we know we've got to keep looking in that particular area with the ground staff to find out where they are."

Mr Weatherhead said the incursion in Townsville was extremely worrying for the entire honey bee industry.

"If it starts to then spread Australia-wide, there'll be implications Australia-wide, so we certainly don't want it to establish in the Townsville area," he said.