Bizarre Facts: California Rules Bees Can be Fish?

On May 31, California’s Third District Court of Appeal ruled that bees could legally be considered fish. The court reversed a lower court’s ruling for seven agriculture groups who argued that the California Endangered Species Act only protects birds, mammals, fish, amphibians, reptiles, and plants, but not insects. “The issue presented here is whether the bumblebee, a terrestrial invertebrate, falls within the definition of fish, as that term is used in the definitions of endangered species in section 2062, threatened species in section 2067, and candidate species (i.e., species being considered for listing as endangered or threatened species) in section 2068 of the Act,” wrote California’s Third District Court of Appeal in its ruling. Passed in 1970, CESA directed the Fish and Game Commission to “establish a list of endangered species and a list of threatened species.” The act has undergone several amendments, including the most recent 2016 stylistic modification, which defines fish as “‘[f]ish’ means a wild fish, mollusk, crustacean, invertebrate, amphibian, or part, spawn, or ovum of any of those animals.” Expanding the definition of fish authorized the Fish and Game Commission to make regulations necessary to protect species like starfish and sea urchins appropriately. In Oct. 2018, public interest groups petitioned the Commission...