A federal judge said the administration of US President Donald Trump had broken the law by withdrawing from a plan to limit the killing of whales, turtles and other marine organisms.
The Trump administration has withdrawn from a plan to reduce the "unintentional" killing of a number of marine organisms by fishers using gill nets, where gills are attached to swordfish off the coast of California.
The decision requires fisheries managers in the United States to take steps to implement the plan calling for numerical limits on "by-catch" of beak-eyed dolphins, 4 species of whales and 4 species of sea turtles, located in gill nets, Abou Seif.
Gill nets are horizontally placed at a depth of 60 meters and a length of 1.8 km.
The Pacific Fisheries Board approved the plan in 2015 and was proposed to be implemented by the National Marine Fisheries Commission of the US Department of Commerce the following year.
But the Trump administration pulled out of the plan in June 2017 and the Ministry of Commerce said the size of the fishing industry outweighed environmental benefits.
The Environmental Protection Group (Ochina) filed a lawsuit and accused the Commerce Department of violating US fisheries laws and the Federal Administrative Procedure Act.
