Buzz
Though insects are scientifically not fish, California's unique legal framework sometimes treats them as such, offering crucial protection for the state's bees.
The change began in 1969 when California revised its Fish and Game Code to include invertebrates and amphibians as part of its definition of fish [PDF]. Before this, the term only applied to “wild fish, mollusks, [and] crustaceans.” The following year, the California legislature introduced the California Endangered Species Act (CESA), which granted the California Fish and Game Commission authority to label “birds, mammals, fish, amphibia, or reptiles” as endangered or rare—shielding them from harm.
The act was updated in 1984 to include plants and changed the term “rare” to “threatened” (among other revisions); further changes were made in the late 1990s. However, section 45 of the code remains unchanged, guiding the commission in deciding which species qualify as legal fish and, thus, eligible for CESA protection. Because insects are invertebrates, they fall under the same legal classification as fish, at least in theory.
Despite the legal classification, not everyone agreed with the decision. In 2018, the Xerces Society for Invertebrate Conservation, the Center for Food Safety, and Defenders of Wildlife requested the California commission to list four species of bumble bees—Crotch’s, Franklin’s, the western, and the Suckley cuckoo bumble bee—as endangered to secure CESA protection. This prompted a lawsuit from the Almond Alliance of California and other agricultural groups, arguing that invertebrates were beyond CESA's scope. The Sacramento County Superior Court sided with the plaintiffs, leading the conservation groups to appeal the decision in collaboration with the commission.
This time, according to The Sacramento Bee, the court ruled in favor of the conservationists. A key factor in this decision was the example set by the Trinity bristle snail, which was designated as a rare animal in 1980 and later confirmed as a CESA-protected threatened species after the act's revision. The Trinity bristle snail, being a mollusk and an invertebrate, helped affirm that such creatures, classified as “fish” under section 45, fall under CESA’s protection.
Living on land, the Trinity bristle snail also countered an argument put forth by the Almond Alliance and others, who claimed that section 45's definition of fish applied only to aquatic invertebrates, mollusks, and similar species.
“While the word fish is generally understood to refer to aquatic species, the specific definition used by the legislature in section 45 is not restricted to this understanding,” wrote Ronald Robie, Associate Justice for California's Third Appellate District, in the ruling [PDF]. A “term of art” is a word that has a particular, specialized meaning in a certain field, as defined by Merriam-Webster.
The ruling not only safeguards the four species of bumble bees but also opens the door for further protection of other threatened or endangered land-based invertebrates in California.
“Today is a monumental day for California’s bumble bees. This ruling reaffirms that the California Endangered Species Act covers all of our state’s endangered native species, which is essential for preserving California’s remarkable biodiversity,” said Pamela Flick, California program director for Defenders of Wildlife, in a press release. “Bees and other pollinators are vital to the health of ecosystems, and the vital pollination services they provide benefit us all, making this decision even more significant.”
