Judges in California’s Third District Court of Appeal ruled in late May that the bumblebee can legally fall within the definition of a fish when it comes to the definition of endangered species.
“Although the term fish is colloquially and commonly understood to refer to aquatic species, the term of art employed by the Legislature in the definition of fish in section 45 is not so limited,” the trio of judges wrote.
Four species of bees were classified as endangered in 2018, but land invertebrates are not explicitly protected under the California Endangered Species Act, which protects “native species or subspecies of a bird, mammal, fish, amphibian, reptile or plant.”
The judges note in their ruling this is not the first time a land invertebrate has been protected as a fish under the statute, with the Trinity bristle snail included in the category in 1980.
“We agree with the Department and the Commission that the Commission may list any invertebrate as an endangered or threatened species under 2062 and 2067, if the invertebrate meets the requirements of those statutes, and thus may also designate any invertebrate as a candidate species under section 2068, if the species or subspecies may otherwise qualify as an endangered or threatened species,” the ruling concluded.
The judges’ ruling overturns a November 2020 ruling, where a judge ruled that “invertebrates” in the California Fish and Game Code only applied to marine invertebrates.
