the Council of State suspends exemptions to the closure of fishing decided by the government

New defeat for the government. Friday, December 22, the Council of State, seized in summary proceedings, suspended exemptions allowing certain boats to continue fishing in the Bay of Biscay in winter despite prohibition measures. The highest administrative court is concerned about their consequences for dolphins.

These exemptions, which appear in a government decree, “are too important for the closure of fishing to have a sufficient effect on accidental catches to have a chance of reducing the mortality of small cetaceans to a sustainable level by 2024.”explains the Council of State in a press release.

This is a new setback for the government, which is trying to protect the economic interests of fishermen, to the great dismay of the associations France Nature Environnement (FNE), Sea Shepherd, Defense of Aquatic Environments (DMA) and League for the Protection of birds (LPO) which have repeatedly referred the matter to the Council of State.

The court recalls that it had already ordered the government in March “to close, within six months, fishing zones in the Bay of Biscay for appropriate periods, in order to limit accidental deaths of dolphins and porpoises”. In response, the State Secretariat for the Sea issued a decree in October establishing a one-month fishing ban period in 2024, 2025 and 2026, “from January 22 to February 20 inclusive”, for all boats of eight meters or more. According to the NGOs, the text included “so many exceptional regimes” for the year 2024 that the “conditions of application are rendered inapplicable”.