The court rules that 'honeybees are fish'

In a case brought by environmental groups in California seeking protection for the bumblebee , a type of honeybee, the California Court of Appeals has reportedly ruled that the bumblebee is an endangered 'fish' under California law and therefore eligible for protection.

Bees are 'fish' under Calif. Endangered Species Act – state court | Reuters
https://www.reuters.com/legal/litigation/bees-are-fish-under-calif-endangered-species-act-state-court-2022-06-01/

Bees Are Fish, California Court Rules
https://www.vice.com/en/article/5dgnn8/bees-are-fish-california-court-rules

This lawsuit was filed by several environmental groups in California, who are seeking to protect bumblebees under the California Endangered Species Act (CESA). According to the California Fish and Game Commission , the state's wildlife protection agency, honeybee populations have been declining year by year, and some species are in danger of extinction. Several wildlife conservation groups have already petitioned in 2018 to have four species of bumblebees listed on the California endangered species list.

On the other hand, agricultural groups such as the Almond Alliance of California and the California Farm Bureau Federation opposed the listing of bumblebees on the endangered species list, stating that CESA does not protect insects. One of the reasons for their opposition is that the decline in bumblebee populations has been attributed to the use of pesticides, and if bumblebees are listed on the endangered species list, it will become more difficult to use pesticides.

As the agricultural groups pointed out, CESA only explicitly protects birds, mammals, fish, amphibians, reptiles, and plants, and does not protect insects. CESA does not define what a 'fish' is, but the California Fish and Game Act, which supersedes CESA, defines 'fish' as including mollusks, crustaceans, and invertebrates, and the issue in the lawsuit was whether bumblebees were included in this definition of 'fish.'

In 2020, the Sacramento County Superior Court of California ruled that the definition of invertebrates under the California Fish and Game Code includes only aquatic animals, and that bumblebees should not be listed as endangered.

However, environmental groups appealed the ruling. Associate Judge Ronald Roby of the California Court of Appeals stated, 'While 'fish' is commonly understood to refer to aquatic animals, the law is not so limited. The term 'invertebrate' in the California Fish and Game Act can be interpreted to include both terrestrial and aquatic animals, and the Legislature has already approved the listing of at least one terrestrial mollusc.' He ruled that bumblebees can be designated as endangered because they are terrestrial invertebrates.

In response to the ruling, the California Fish and Game Commission said it would provisionally list the four bumblebee species in question as 'potential endangered species,' providing provisional protections until it could consider whether to actually designate them as threatened.

'This ruling is a victory for bumblebees, all of California's threatened and endangered invertebrates, and for CESA,' said Matthew Sanders, an environmental law professor at Stanford Law School. 'Insects are the foundation of California's agricultural production and healthy ecosystems.'

On the other hand, the agricultural group's lead lawyer commented that he was 'disappointed' and said he would wait until the ruling to decide whether to appeal further.