The Jialing River is a left-bank tributary of the upper reaches of the Yangtze River, flowing through the Sichuan Basin from Guangyuan, Sichuan. Bailong Lake belongs to the Bailong River in the upper reaches of the Jialing River system, where the climate is pleasant and the products are abundant, it is the home of fish habitat and reproduction, and it is also the prohibited area of fishing in the key waters of the Yangtze River Basin. However, there are still some unscrupulous elements who secretly fish here and illegally seek profits.
After the Lizhou District Procuratorate of Guangyuan City, Sichuan Province, initiated a criminal attached civil public interest lawsuit in accordance with the law, more than 10 defendants led by Jia Mou were sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment ranging from two years and six months to five months of detention for committing the crime of illegal fishing for aquatic products, endangering precious and endangered wild animals, and concealing and concealing the proceeds of crime; At the same time, Jia and more than 10 other defendants were ordered to jointly and severally compensate for ecological restoration costs totaling more than 2.31 million yuan. This case is a series of "4.28" illegal fishing aquatic products cases listed and supervised by the Ministry of Public Security, including 11 related cases, involving the whole chain of "catch-transport-sale".
Yangtze River "Ten Years Fishing Ban"
At night, there were boats sneaking down the river
At 1 a.m., on the side of the Jialing River, a kayak drove from far to near. One man steered the boat and the other held a flashlight and stabbed the electric fishing rod into the water. At the moment of entering the water, within a radius of 1 meter of the electric fishing rod, all kinds of fish species turned over their white bellies and floated on the surface of the water, and the helmsman sharply used the net pocket to net the fish on the boat.
In 2018, Jia Mou, who lives at the confluence of the Jialing River and the Bailong River, began illegally fishing wild fish for profit. On January 1, 2021, the Yangtze River "ten years of fishing ban" policy began to be implemented, in the face of stricter supervision, Jia not only did not take over, but also coaxed Wang to join, buy modified vans to improve storage and transportation capacity, and use net fishing, electric shock and other prohibited methods for illegal fishing.
Nearby residents saw that Jia mou was very profitable and asked to join Jia's fishing team. Among them, Luo Mou and Hu Mou were originally licensed fishermen in Guangyuan City, and later responded to the government's call to retire from fishing and change production, but seeing that Jia Mou and others "got rich", they also took the risk and quietly began fishing.
"The fishermen have all retired from fishing, so why do they still have boats going down the river at night?" In late April 2021, the police of the Economic and Technological Development Zone Bureau of the Guangyuan Municipal Public Security Bureau raised questions about the visit of retired fishermen. This clue immediately aroused the vigilance of the public security organs, and the public security organs immediately arranged for the police forces to squat for 24 hours in 7 key areas around the Guangyuan section of the Jialing River and the BailongJiang River, and made a major breakthrough in just a few days.
At about 4:00 a.m. on April 28, 2021, Jia Mou and Wang Mou, who were electric fishing on the lower side of the Zhaohua Power Station in Bailongjiang, were arrested by the police on duty. Seeing that the matter was revealed, the two abandoned the ship and fled. The police seized more than 700 catties of silver carp, carp and other catches at the scene, all of which are endemic wild fish in the Yangtze River Basin. In the morning of the same day, Jia and Wang surrendered themselves.
In July of the same year, the public security organs arrested Luo and Hu and their spouses, and seized four giant salamanders and five other species of fish in their homes, such as Mongolian carp and Chinese turtle. According to the local agricultural and rural departments, 4 of them are wild populations and are national second-level protected animals.
Fresh fish shop owner's
"Order-based" fishing cooperative program
Every other day, in the area from Zhaohua Town in Zhaohua District of Guangyuan City to Baolun Town in Lizhou District, around 3 a.m., a Sichuan R license plate van will appear and receive goods along the way. Batches of fresh wild fish were sent into the carriage and transported to a fresh fish shop in Langzhong City.
After Jia's illegal fishing gang was seized by the public security organs, Lu Mou, the owner of a fresh fish shop in Langzhong City, entered the police's field of vision as a witness. With the deepening of the investigation, the public security organs believed that Lu was suspected of concealing and concealing the proceeds of crime, and then transferred him to the procuratorial organs for review and prosecution.
"After comparing the communication records, we found that Jia and Lu had frequent contact for a long time, and the contact time and the transaction time node highly coincided, so it seems that things are not so simple." Huo Erfeng, the procurator in charge of the Lizhou District Procuratorate, said that if the two had the intention of contacting each other before, then Lu Mou was not a cover-up and concealment of criminal proceeds, but an accomplice in the case. In view of the facts of Lu's suspected crime, the procurator handling the case listed a detailed supplementary investigation outline, refined the verbal evidence of the people involved in the case, and locked the criminal facts of illegal fishing and selling wild fish by the two sides in an "order-type" manner.
The scene of the trial of the "4.28" illegal fishing series of aquatic products cases
It turned out that Lu mou was an old buyer of Jia Mou. In 2019, Lu proposed an "order-based" fishing cooperation plan to Jia, and Lu proposed the number and variety of fish needed a day in advance, and Jia quietly delivered it in the early morning of the next day, thus forming an underground "catch-transport-sell" black industrial chain with Jia and others illegally fishing, Lu and others illegally purchasing, transporting and selling. In the end, Lu and Jia were found to be joint crimes and were investigated for committing illegal fishing for aquatic products and endangering precious and endangered wild animals.
Unblocking combination
Prevent fishermen from returning to their old jobs
To protect the benign development of the Yangtze River water ecosystem, in addition to criminal deterrence, it is also necessary to restore the damaged ecology of the Yangtze River Basin. The Lizhou District Procuratorate gives full play to the procuratorial function of public interest litigation, and while pursuing the criminal responsibility of the persons involved in the case in accordance with the law, supervises and urges them to actively perform their responsibilities for ecological restoration.
"The case involved a large number of people, a long time span, a large number of transactions, and the intertwining between upstream fishermen and downstream acquirers, resulting in a complex case." Huo Erfeng said. In order to clarify the amount of money involved, the procurator handling the case carefully examines and checks the transaction records and the confessions of the persons involved in the case, identifies the amount of crime committed by each person involved in the case one by one, and calculates the amount of ecological compensation that each person involved in the case should bear. After ascertaining all the facts, the procuratorial organs filed a criminal attached civil public interest lawsuit in accordance with the law, requesting the court to sentence Jia and more than 10 other people to corresponding punishments, and sentenced them to bear a total of more than 2.31 million yuan in compensation for ecological resource damage, which was supported by the court.
In view of the illegal fishing problems exposed in the case and the weak links in market supervision, the Lizhou District Procuratorate issued social governance procuratorial suggestions to the District Agriculture and Rural Bureau and the District Market Supervision and Administration Bureau respectively, urging the two units to increase the inspection of fishery and fishery administration law enforcement, and at the same time pay attention to the retired fishermen, prevent them from returning to their old business, and ensure that the national fishing ban policy is implemented. After the procuratorial recommendations were issued, the Lizhou District Agriculture and Rural Affairs Bureau and the Market Supervision Bureau carried out a series of publicity activities prohibiting fishing in key places such as rivers, aquatic product markets, and restaurant gathering areas in their jurisdictions, and continued to increase law enforcement inspections. The Lizhou District Agriculture and Rural Affairs Bureau has also carried out special assistance on the issue of retired fishermen's conversion to production, and has taken many measures to ensure the livelihood of retired fishermen through skills training and employment guidance.
60,000 fry were released into the Yangtze River
"The Yangtze River has fed generations of fishermen along our shores. Today, we should strengthen the protection of the ecology of the Yangtze River and let fish breed in the Yangtze River for generations. On June 14, at the shore of bailong lake, witnessed by judges, prosecutors and a number of deputies to the National People's Congress, 60,000 fish fry purchased with ecological compensation paid by Jia and others were released to the Yangtze River. At the same time, procuratorial organs carry out rule of law publicity at the site of breeding and stocking, enhance the people's awareness of the protection of biodiversity in the Yangtze River Basin, and promote the construction of a green barrier for harmonious coexistence between man and nature from the source.
Transferred from: Procuratorial Daily
Author: Cao Yingpin, Li Min, Su Chen, Huang Mingxue
Source: Supreme People's Procuratorate