A California appeals court ruled Tuesday that four different species of bee were actually “fish” in order to protect them under the state’s Endangered Species Act.
California Fish and Game Commission designated the bees as protected in 2019 under the California Endangered Species Act (CESA), but almond growers, citrus farmers, cotton ginners, etc. sued, arguing that the law doesn’t allow insects to be designated because they are invertebrates and not “wildlife” the way the law defined it.
The Commission counterargued that some invertebrates are already protected under the law, including shrimp, snail, and crayfish.
The Trinity bristle snail was designated “threatened” in 1980 and does not live in the water, they argued, which means that the commission cannot limit the definition of “fish” to marine animals.
“Term of Art”
A lower court ruled with the farmers, but the appellate court overturned the ruling and designated the bees as “fish.”
“We generally give words their usual and ordinary meaning,” the court said in its decision. “Where, however, the Legislature has provided a technical definition of a word, we construe the term of art in accordance with the technical meaning. In performing this function, we are tasked with liberally construing the Act to effectuate its remedial purpose.”
California courts have a long history of ruling that environmental protection laws “are of great remedial and public importance” and “construed liberally,” the ruling read.
The word “fish” is a “legal term of art that previously included a ‘terrestrial mollusk’ under section 2607,” it went on.
Wrangling over language
Because of that ruling, the bee species can be designated protected species under the law.
The wrangling over language is just another symptom of the way the left will change definitions to get what they want, no matter how illogical.
If bees were people, after all, they would just tell them to “identify” as fish so they could be protected, much the way swimmer Lia Thomas is identifying as female, and is now winning swimming races.
But the left needs to remember that it can only go so far, because while they think the ends justify the means, only so many people will accept that before it all falls apart and reality comes back to bite them.