That’s because the snail, the commissioners note, does not even live in the water and was categorized as “threatened” in 1980. The listing of the Trinity bristle snail is particularly instructive, the Commission argued. At least one species of shrimp, snail and crayfish are listed under the CESA.
The Commission countered, saying that the definition of fish can and should encapsulate bees and other similarly situated invertebrates because, in part, it already does in practice. They argued that the CESA does not allow the Commission to designate any insects as endangered, threatened, or candidate species because insects are not included in the statute’s enumerated categories of wildlife entitled to such legal protections.
In 2019, the California Fish and Game Commission moved to protect those bees, the Crotch, Franklin’s, Western, and Suckley’s cuckoo, by designating them as endangered, threatened, and candidate species under three sections of the CESA.Īlmond growers, citrus farmers, cotton ginners, and other agricultural groups sued. That danger mostly comes from the activities of huge agricultural interests. Three-judge panel of a state appellate court found that certain invertebrate animal species, including bees, are legally contained under the same umbrella definition as “fish” under the terms of the Golden State’s homegrown Endangered Species Act.įour different bumblebee species are facing dire odds in the country’s most populous state.