The procuratorate of Guannan County, Jiangsu Province, handled cases to promote the introduction of national standards
On the morning of June 15, with a "catch-open" order, accompanied by a whistle, 78 fishing boats set sail from the Yanwei Port Fishing Port in Lianyungang, Jiangsu Province, to start a month-long special (concession) fishing operation for wool shrimp. All this must start from a case handled by the procuratorate of Guannan County, Jiangsu Province.
Whether the "shrimp skin net" is a prohibited fishing gear
From May 1 to September 1 this year, the Fishing Ban Period in the Yellow Sea area stipulated by the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, but Jiangsu was listed as the country's first pilot area for special (concessionary) fishing of wool shrimp, allowing the use of one month during the rest period to carry out fishing in parts of Haizhou Bay in Lianyungang City.
The introduction of this pilot project stems from a special report submitted to the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs by the Jiangsu Provincial Marine Fisheries Research Institute, the Jiangsu Coast Guard Bureau, the Lianyungang Municipal Fishery Administration Supervision Brigade, the Guannan County Procuratorate of Lianyungang City, and other units on the issue of "fishermen's traditional fishing of wool shrimp is easy to be sentenced".
On June 11, 2018, when the four brigades of the Jiangsu Coast Guard Detachment were patrolling and enforcing the law in the Yellow Sea, they found that four fishing boats were operating at sea, and the nets used on the fishing boats were inspected on the spot as multi-anchor nets, and their mesh was smaller than the minimum mesh size of 25 mm for marine fishing in the East Yellow Sea, so they were found to be suspected of illegal fishing for aquatic products. On September 27, 2018, the case was transferred to the Guannan County Procuratorate for review and handling.
When reviewing the case, Li Qiang, the procurator in charge of the Guannan County Procuratorate, found that the aquatic products caught by the fishermen involved in the case were wool shrimp, also known as "shrimp skin", which is a group of zooplankton with short life cycle and high nutritional value, which is the city's coastal characteristic resources, and more than 150 fishermen in the Yellow Sea, especially in the Lianyungang sea, have been relying on shrimp skin for decades to fish for life, and have driven fishermen, fishmongers, and shrimp processing enterprises to employ nearly 10,000 people. According to the Notice of the Ministry of Agriculture on the Implementation of the Minimum Mesh Size System for Marine Fishing Permitted Fishing Gear and Transitional Fishing Gear, the nets for the main fishing of woolly shrimp are licensed by local concessions, while the fishery administrative department of Jiangsu Province has no specific operating regulations and has not issued relevant concession fishing licenses.
Li Qiang said that due to the lack of law enforcement standards, many fishermen's traditional nets for catching hairy shrimp have been identified as prohibited fishing gear, resulting in suspected crimes. However, due to the particularity of this fishing species, the diameter of the traditional shrimp fishing gear "shrimp skin" is often smaller than the minimum mesh size of 10 mm stipulated by the state. In view of this situation, the Guannan County Procuratorate has held joint meetings with the Jiangsu Provincial Marine and Fisheries Research Institute, fishery administration, coast guard and other units on many occasions to discuss issues such as fishing gear identification and special fishing permits for wool shrimp.
Promote multi-sectoral clarification of fishing standards for wool shrimp
After many visits and investigations, the experts of the Jiangsu Marine Fishing Gear and Fishing Law Appraisal Center integrated various factors such as the operation of the fishing grounds, the operation period, the catch objects, especially the fishing methods, and finally found that the water depth of the "shrimp skin net" operation did not exceed 20 meters, there was no "bottom" operation attribute, and only operated from June to July and September to December throughout the year, and the catch was almost the same as chinese hairy shrimp, which was difficult to classify as "bottom grilled net" and other prohibited net management. Moreover, the "shrimp skin net" will stand on the seabed like a "wall" in actual use, and the fish will automatically leave when it hits the "shrimp skin net", which is obviously different from the way fishing gear is prohibited.
Experts from the Jiangsu Provincial Marine fisheries research institute believe that the fishing ban period is the mature period of shrimp skin, fishermen catch shrimp skin like farmers harvest wheat, once the time passes the shrimp skin will die, fishermen will lose their main economic resources. Hair shrimp has strong fecundity and rapid generational renewal, and has been the main object of fishermen's seawater fishing for hundreds of years, and the shrimp skin processed with hair shrimp is also one of the important seafood products for China's export and foreign exchange.
Li Qiang said that although the shrimp is small, it is related to the livelihood of thousands of fishermen. If the "shrimp skin net" is considered a banned fishing gear, then these fishermen who have been fishing for shrimp for generations in the Yellow Sea will be suspected of committing crimes. Considering the provisions of the Fishery Law and the objects of fishing catch, the "shrimp skin net" cannot be directly classified as a "bottom grill net" that is explicitly prohibited from being used in the "Jiangsu Provincial Fishery Management Regulations". Therefore, the procuratorial organs believe that the existing evidence is insufficient to confirm that the fishing gear involved in the case, "shrimp skin net", is a prohibited tool. On January 17, 2020, after multiple investigations, the Guannan County Procuratorate and the Coast Guard finally made a decision to withdraw the above cases in accordance with the law.
At the same time, through the analysis and study of the case, the Guannan County Procuratorate sorted out the tradition of fishing for wool shrimp in the Yellow Sea and the lack of special fishing licenses in Jiangsu Province, and jointly with the Jiangsu Provincial Marine and Fisheries Research Institute and other departments made a specific report to the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, which deeply elaborated on the fishing tradition of wool shrimp in the Lianyungang area of the Yellow Sea, the environmental impact of fishing, the timing of fishing and the handling of relevant cases, which was valued by the Ministry of Rural Agriculture.
Soon, the Ministry of Rural Agriculture issued the "Notice on Special Fishing Permits for Special Economic Varieties and Supporting Service Arrangements for Fishing Auxiliary Vessels during the 2020 Holiday Period", which clearly regulates the fishing of wool shrimp, so there is a scene at the beginning of this article.
It is strictly forbidden for lawbreakers to illegally fish under the banner of catching wool shrimp
Relevant experts said that the introduction of the new circular not only allows law enforcement departments to have a basis for law enforcement, but also effectively protects the normal production and life of fishermen, but how to prevent lawbreakers from "hanging sheep's heads and selling dog meat" during the fishing ban period, under the banner of fishing for wool shrimp, and implementing illegal fishing has become our next focus of work.
In response to the concerns of experts, the Guannan County Procuratorate, together with the Lianyungang Municipal Coast Guard Bureau and the Guannan County Fishery Administration Supervision and Law Enforcement Brigade, further upgraded the "Cruiser" WeChat Mini Program for Marine Ecological Protection jointly developed by the procuratorate, the Coast Guard and the Fishery Administration Department in July 2019, so as to facilitate fishermen to directly understand policies and regulations, typical cases and report illegal reports through mobile phones, and also facilitate the fishery administration, coast guard and procuratorial organs to share information at the first time and form a joint force for marine ecological protection.
From May 13 to June 13 this year, the Guannan County Procuratorate, together with the Lianyungang Municipal Coast Guard Bureau and the Guannan County Fishery Administration Supervision and Law Enforcement Brigade, came to Dugougang Town, Guannan County, to carry out the special legal publicity action of "guarding the blue ocean and cracking down on illegal fishing during the fishing ban period" to escort the fishing moratorium during the off-season, informing fishermen of the precautions related to the pilot, distributing more than 500 leaflets on laws and regulations, and answering more than 100 legal consultations from fishermen. This joint special operation gave the fishermen a "reassuring pill" and also shocked those who intended to move their minds.
On June 14, prosecutors and law enforcement personnel of the fishery supervision and law enforcement department once again came to the fishing port wharf to inspect the special net gear for the fishing of the fishing vessel "Hairy Shrimp", which was about to go to sea. Fishery law enforcement officials said that the inspection will be carried out on a regular basis. (Sun Mantao, Zuo Fei)