• Several dolphins died between February and March.
• The State Council’s action comes only days after an oceanic institute announcement.
• More than 400 marine creatures were discovered stranded along the shore in a single week.

PARIS – France‘s highest administrative court ordered the government on Monday to stop fishing in regions of the Atlantic to safeguard dolphins that have washed up dead by the hundreds.

The State Council’s action comes only days after an oceanic institute announced that at least 910 dolphins have washed up on France’s Atlantic coast since the beginning of the winter.

More than 400 marine creatures were discovered stranded along the shore in a single week, an “unprecedented” number, according to the Pelagis oceanic observatory in the western city of La Rochelle.

Numerous environmental non-governmental organizations, including Sea Shepherd, had filed a court case against the government in connection with the dolphin and porpoise killings. They said that it was not doing enough to safeguard the species, which are on the verge of extinction in portions of the Bay of Biscay along the Atlantic coast.

Several dolphins died between February and March when they typically migrate closer to the coast in search of food and are more likely to come into touch with fishing operations.

So far, the French government has refrained from implementing fishing prohibitions, instead choosing alternatives that reduce the impact of commercial fishing on dolphins, such as onboard cameras or loud sound equipment to scare the dolphins away.

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