SAN FRANCISCO (KCBS RADIO) – Are bumblebees a type of fish? As defined under California law, the answer is "yes," and it's the reason they are currently protected by the state.
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A California appeals court ruled on Tuesday that bumblebees are protected under the state's Endangered Species Act because the insect is broadly included under its definition of "fish."
The original endangered species law, enacted in 1970, granted protections to all birds, mammals, fish, amphibia or reptiles whose existence in the state was threatened. The definition of fish originally included invertebrates, such as bumblebees, but the act was updated in 1984 to exclude insects, except for the Trinity bristle snail, an invertebrate mussel which lives on land, according to the San Francisco Chronicle.
With the state's bumblebee population plunging rapidly, environmental groups in 2018 asked the Fish and Wildlife commission to classify four species — the Crotch's bumblebee, Franklin's bumblebee, Suckley cuckoo bumblebee, and Western bumblebee — as endangered. The agency in 2019 agreed to consider them as candidates, a decision which protected them from being killed and their habitats from being destroyed while the process was ongoing.
However, in 2020, a Sacramento County Superior Court judge removed those restrictions, ruling that bumblebees should not be eligible for the act since they do not fit any of the classifications. The judge determined that the endangered species law's reference to fish only extends to invertebrates who are connected to a marine habitat.
The law changed again on Tuesday, when the Third District Court of Sacramento reversed the previous court's ruling and said the state's definition of fish under California law was intended to be interpreted broadly and should cover all invertebrates.
The court's ruling means the bees' protections will be restored while the Fish and Game Commission considers their status as an endangered species.
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