HONOLULU -- Oahu bees are infected with a tiny mite, and if that gets out to the other islands some say it could be a disaster.

The Varroa mite was discovered on Oahu bees in 2007. Since then, experts said most of the bee colonies on Oahu are infected. The mite sucks the blood from bees and it can be devastating. Now the neighbor islands are the only places on earth where bees are free of the mite.

The University of Hawaii College Tropical Agriculture will soon be joining the department of agricultures effort to keep the mite away from neighbor islands.

"Right now, the primary objective is to prevent them from moving from this island to others. That's our primary objective, to figure how to do that, and how to do that in an environmentally safe manner," said Mark Wright, Ph.D., UH Tropical Agriculture.

Experts are worried bees will hitch a ride on interisland barges or the Superferry. They're hoping to put out toxic bait near all the ports to keep bees from traveling.

Some beekeepers said they favor drastic action. They said they want the state to declare an emergency and eradicate all the bees on Oahu.

"Kill all the bees and all the mites on this island and then replenish with clean bees from big island or Molokai or somewhere else. If they wait and it might get to the other islands, where are we going to get clean bees from? We can't," said Dr. Michael Kliks, with Hawaii Beekeepers Association.

Others said that's not possible.

"It would take an all out effort, very concentrated effort, to actually do that -- probably not practical," Wright said.

Bees pollinate many crops. So if they make it to neighbor islands some said it would be disastrous.

"The direct cost alone would be close to $300 million in the next decade maybe more," Wright said.

Wright said the little mite is a big problem and it's not going away soon.