Yes. Under California law, bees are classified as fish, at least for the purposes of the state’s endangered species protections. A 2022 appellate ruling held that four native bumblebee species can be listed under the California Endangered Species Act because the Fish and Game Code defines “fish” broadly enough to include invertebrates, and bees are invertebrates.
The Statute That Makes a Bee a Fish
The result comes from one sentence in the code. California Fish and Game Code Section 45 defines “fish” as “a wild fish, mollusk, crustacean, invertebrate, amphibian, or part, spawn, or ovum of any of those animals.”1California Legislative Information. California Code, Fish and Game Code – Section 45 That definition looks nothing like the everyday meaning of the word. It reaches snails, crayfish, frogs, and every animal without a backbone.
The California Endangered Species Act (CESA) uses “fish” to describe the animals the Fish and Game Commission can list as endangered or threatened. Because Section 45 governs how “fish” is read throughout the code, that broad definition travels directly into CESA. The appellate court called Section 45’s definition a “term of art,” meaning the Legislature deliberately gave the word a technical meaning that departs from its ordinary sense.2Justia Case Law. Almond Alliance of Cal. v. Fish and Game Com.
This is not an old drafting mistake that no one noticed. Before CESA was enacted in 1984, the Commission had already listed the Trinity bristle snail, a land-dwelling mollusk, as a protected species. When the Legislature passed CESA, it expressly carried all prior listings into the new statute, effectively confirming that terrestrial invertebrates could qualify as “fish” for conservation purposes.2Justia Case Law. Almond Alliance of Cal. v. Fish and Game Com.
The Case That Settled It
In 2018, conservation groups petitioned the Fish and Game Commission to list four bumblebee species as endangered: the western bumblebee, Franklin’s bumblebee, Suckley’s cuckoo bumblebee, and Crotch’s bumblebee. In 2019, the Commission designated them as candidate species.3Stanford Law School. Native Bumblebees Become First Insects Protected Under the California Endangered Species Act
Agricultural and building industry groups, led by the Almond Alliance of California, sued. They argued that CESA was never meant to cover insects and that “invertebrate” in Section 45 should be read as limited to aquatic invertebrates. A trial court initially agreed with them.
In May 2022, the Third District Court of Appeal unanimously reversed in Almond Alliance of California v. Fish and Game Commission.2Justia Case Law. Almond Alliance of Cal. v. Fish and Game Com. The reasoning was direct: CESA authorizes the Commission to list “fish”; Section 45 defines “fish” to include any invertebrate; bumblebees are invertebrates; therefore bumblebees can be listed. The court rejected the aquatic-only reading, noting that the Legislature had used “invertebrate” without any water-based qualifier and had already blessed the listing of a land snail under the same framework. In September 2022, the California Supreme Court declined to hear a further appeal, leaving the Third District’s decision as the final word.
What Protection the Bees Actually Have
The four bumblebee species have not yet received a full endangered or threatened listing. They remain candidate species while the California Department of Fish and Wildlife completes its scientific review.4State of California Department of Fish and Wildlife. Updates to the Legal Status of Bumble Bees in California The practical difference is small. Candidate species receive the same legal protections as a full listing while the review continues.
That means CESA’s prohibition on “take” applies. Under California law, “take” includes hunting, catching, capturing, or killing the animal.5State of California Department of Fish and Wildlife. Compare CESA to Federal ESA Farming, construction, or pesticide use that harms one of the four bumblebee species can carry legal consequences without proper authorization. Landowners and developers whose projects might incidentally harm a protected species can apply for an incidental take permit, which requires minimizing and fully mitigating the impact and showing that the take will not jeopardize the species’ continued existence.
What the Ruling Means for Other Insects
The decision reaches further than four bee species. It confirms that any terrestrial invertebrate in California is potentially eligible for CESA protection. Butterflies, beetles, spiders, and other land-dwelling animals without a spine all fall within Section 45’s definition. Monarch butterflies, whose migratory populations have dropped sharply, are among the species most often mentioned as candidates for future listings.
Before Almond Alliance, conservation groups had few tools for protecting insects under California state law. The Trinity bristle snail had been listed as a terrestrial invertebrate since the early 1980s, but no court had squarely tested whether CESA reached land-dwelling invertebrates generally. The 2022 decision provided that answer.2Justia Case Law. Almond Alliance of Cal. v. Fish and Game Com.
Federal Law Takes a Different Route
The federal Endangered Species Act does not require calling an insect a fish. It defines “fish or wildlife” as any member of the animal kingdom and separately lists mollusks, crustaceans, and “arthropods or other invertebrates” as protected categories.6U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service. Section 3. Definitions Insects are arthropods and qualify directly. Federal law also allows the Secretary of the Interior to exclude a pest insect from protection if listing it would pose “an overwhelming and overriding risk to man.”7eCFR. Part 424 – Listing Endangered and Threatened Species and Designating Critical Habitat CESA has no equivalent carve-out. The rusty patched bumblebee received federal endangered status in 2017, the first bee to gain that protection in the continental United States.
Why California Hasn’t Rewritten the Definition
No one in the Legislature has moved to change Section 45, and there is little pressure to do so. Narrowing “fish” would strip protections that conservation groups would defend. Creating a separate listing category for terrestrial invertebrates would produce the same result through more paperwork. The current framework, awkward as it sounds in a headline, does what the Legislature intended: it lets the Commission protect animals that need protecting, regardless of whether they have fins.