In March 2023, the French Conseil d'Etat, acting on a referral from several environmental associations, ordered the government to close fishing zones in the Bay of Biscay for appropriate periods within 6 months, in order to limit the accidental deaths of dolphins and porpoises. Following this decision, the French Secretary of State for the Sea banned fishing with certain dangerous nets for 4 weeks in 2024, 2025 and 2026, with a number of derogations for 2024. The French Conseil d'Etat, hearing the case again, today ruled in summary proceedings that these derogations were too extensive for the fishing ban to have a sufficient effect on incidental catches to have any chance of reducing the mortality of small cetaceans to a sustainable level from 2024. He also noted that the pelagic seine was not included in the list of high-risk nets whose use is prohibited, even though it is responsible for a significant number of incidental catches of dolphins. For these reasons, the Conseil d'État's interim relief judge suspended part of the order