In this day and age, hearing about bees becoming aquatic menaces would probably seem normal. Just imagine- you’re going for a swim in your pool before accidentally striking an underwater beehive. It then becomes a battle for survival as a coloney of bees surrounds you. Thankfully, this nightmare scenario isn’t real. But thanks to some legal loopholes, the state of California actually recognizes bees as undersea creatures. That would be weird enough on its own, but it gets stranger. An appeals court has ruled on a case, settling the fact that bees are fish.
The reason for the strange distinction comes from how the state handles endangered or threatened animals. The California Endangered Species Act identifies protected species in specific categories, such as bird, mammal, fish, amphibian, reptile, or plant. You might notice insects are not part of that list. Rather than rewrite the law to make up for that oversight, legislatures simply made updates over the years.
In 2015, the fish category was updated so the term means “a wild fish, mollusk, crustacean, invertebrate, amphibian, or part, spawn, or ovum of any of those animals.” (Stats. 2015, ch. 154, § 5.) Because invertebrates now fall under the fish category, this extends to any related species, including insects.
We’ll Bee Seeing You in Court
This ruling became the subject of a lawsuit filed in 2019 against the California Fish and Game Commission. Agricultural groups like the Almond Alliance of California filed the suit to get four bumble bee species off the protected list. Such a ruling means that land designated as their habitat can’t be farmed on or disturbed. To avoid making changes that could hurt profits, the lawsuit sought to strike down the ruling. Their argument was that the Act is faulty, because who would possibly consider bees fish?
The first judgement on the case sided with the plaintiffs. However, the California Appeals Court ruled this week that the argument did not hold water. In their ruling, they conclude the word fish in the act is a “term of art” rather than a scientific definition. Basically, everyone understands this bill is weird, and requires interpretation. It is better to protect endangered species rather than argue over what belongs where. So for now, the California endangered bumble bee is safe the fly the seas once more.
If you like weird stuff like this, did you know that hippos are legally people in Florida? How about the UK declaring lobsters and octopi are sentient?
