Recent news reports stated that seven species of bees native to Hawaii were put on the endangered species list. However, the mass population of bees elsewhere have been thriving.

According to the “Washington Post“, in 2015, there were 2.66 million commercial honey-producing bee colonies in the United States. That is down slightly from the 2.74 million colonies in 2014, which represented a two-decade high.

“It is threatening to our agriculture and sustainability of such a large human population. It’s a real problem that I am very worried about,” said Benjamin Charnay, 12.

If most of the bee species get placed on the endangered species list, industries could be harmed, especially fruit and vegetable industries because bees pollinate the flowers of these crops.

“Bees are so important to many food production companies because they keep the products flourishing,” said Anais Cabello, 12.

Beekeepers are trying their best to manage their colonies by replacing the ones that die off. They use certain methods to keep the colonies thriving. For example, they sometimes breed queen bees to start new colonies and sell to other beekeepers.

“I feel like the human population takes bees for granted because a lot of our food supply depends on them,” said Nikhil Sekar, 11.

Commercial bees are the only part of the population being watched, wild bees are still at risk if they die out. If they disappear, there is no way of beginning reproduction of the wild species.