Text: Zhou Luming Law
Edited by Zhou Luming Law
«——【Preamble】】 ——»
China's vast waters and the natural environment of intertwined rivers provide a high-quality living environment for aquatic wildlife populations. Regulating the use of aquatic wildlife can not only better protect aquatic wildlife, but also be of great significance to the promotion of the rule of law in the protection of natural resources in China.
At present, there are still some problems in China's licensing procedures for the use of aquatic wild animals, such as the complicated procedures for individual buyers to apply for permits for the use of aquatic wild animals, and the imperfect laws and regulations on the relevant laws and regulations, resulting in individual buyers being unable to apply for permits conveniently and efficiently.
Since the 2017 new Implementing Regulations on the Protection of Aquatic Wildlife came into effect, some of the provisions have not been in line with reality, and there have been incoherent changes in the regulations and some behavioral concepts have not been clearly defined.
General theory of aquatic wildlife utilization
At present, there are three types of regulations on the scope of aquatic wildlife species under national key protection:
The first category is a list of wild animals under national key protection jointly formulated and promulgated by the former Ministry of Forestry (now the National Forestry and Grassland Administration) and the Ministry of Agriculture in accordance with the relevant provisions of the Wildlife Protection Law of the People's Republic of China.
In this list, the relevant departments divide the rare and endangered aquatic wild animals under national key protection into national first-class and second-class protected aquatic wild animals according to the number of species they currently exist, their living conditions and the environment.
The second category is the "List of Wild Animals under Local Key Protection", that is, the aquatic wild animals in the list of wild animals under local key protection formulated by each province according to the actual situation of the province.
The third category is the aquatic wildlife listed in the CITES Appendix. The purpose of CITES is to prevent the overexploitation of certain wildlife and plant species due to international trade, so as to achieve international cooperation and ensure that their populations can survive in a healthy and safe state.
Since the implementation of CITES, more than 30,000 species of animals and plants have been protected at different levels, which has played a good role in regulating the use of wild animal and plant species and ensuring the stability of the survival status of species populations.
At present, through the joint efforts of fishery departments at all levels, the utilization and development of aquatic wildlife resources have achieved remarkable results. For the utilization and management of aquatic wildlife, all departments have always adhered to the principle of "limited, controllable, and effective" utilization, adhered to the policy of "effective protection and multiplication and utilization", and improved the system for the utilization of aquatic wildlife.
Among them, Changzhou has made many great achievements in the management and utilization of aquatic wild animals, including the establishment of a commitment system for management and utilization, a record system for operation and utilization, the implementation of a one-store-one-license system, dual control management of supply and marketing contracts for operation and utilization, and the collection of protection fees for aquatic wildlife resources in accordance with the law.
In recent years, the market has become more and more interested in the pursuit of some rare aquatic wild animals, which has led to an increasing number of irregular behaviors such as illegal use and illegal operation.
At present, there is no strict professional team or personnel to conduct prior assessment and effective management of the approval procedures for the use of such aquatic wild animals under national key protection, resulting in the failure of reasonable and effective regulation and management of the use of aquatic wild animals, destroying the original aquatic ecosystems and making the depletion of aquatic natural resources more serious.
Regulating the use of aquatic wildlife is an important part of accelerating the excellent development process of the fishery industry, improving the laws and regulations related to the licensing of the use of aquatic wildlife, and improving the efficiency of the use of aquatic wildlife.
Whether it is from the perspective of regulating the operation and utilization order of the aquatic wildlife market, or from the perspective of adhering to the protection of aquatic wildlife populations and natural resources.
China should speed up the procedures for regulating the use of aquatic wildlife, improve the laws and regulations related to the licensing of the use of aquatic wildlife, and promote the steady development of China's fishery market and fishery administrative mechanism.
Current status of legal regulation of the use of aquatic wildlife
Strict control of the capture of aquatic wild animals, especially for aquatic wildlife species under national key protection, has always been the basis for ensuring the healthy development of the living environment of aquatic wild animals and regulating the use of aquatic wild animals.
The control of fishing behavior requires the relevant administrative departments to standardize the application and approval procedures and the issuance procedures of certificates for all kinds of aquatic wildlife capture permits, and improve the permit system to strictly screen entities with fishing qualifications. Under normal circumstances, China does not allow individuals to fish aquatic wildlife under national key protection.
If it is particularly necessary to catch fish for scientific research or other purposes, fishing activities should also be carried out in accordance with the relevant provisions of the Law on the Protection of Wild Animals and the Regulations on the Implementation of the Protection of Aquatic Wild Animals.
And it should be made clear that obtaining a fishing license does not mean that the relevant units can arbitrarily fish for aquatic wildlife, but still follow the principle of legal use.
Fishing operations shall be carried out in strict accordance with the number of fishing permits and the number of species, reducing the damage to natural resources caused by the utilization activities of entities that have been qualified for fishing, and avoiding or reducing harm to aquatic wildlife and their living environment as much as possible.
At present, China has extremely strict control over the relevant permits for aquatic wildlife and their products under national first-class protection, so generally only the government, universities and scientific research institutions can be allowed to handle them, and individuals cannot apply for them in principle.
In terms of operation and utilization, in principle, China prohibits the sale or purchase of aquatic wild animals or their products under national first-class protection.
However, in the same way, if it is necessary to sell, operate or use aquatic wild animals or their products under national first-class protection due to special circumstances permitted by the state such as scientific research and exhibitions, it shall be subject to an application to the fishery administrative department of the people's government of the province, autonomous region or municipality directly under the Central Government, and the fishery administrative department of the State Council shall approve the use of the fishing license standards.
Compared with the national first-class protected aquatic wildlife, the scope of the national second-class protected aquatic wildlife is much broader. At present, the highest level of aquatic wild animals that can be circulated in the market is the national second-class protected aquatic wild animals.
In terms of hunting, where it is necessary to hunt wildlife under Class II national protection, a permit shall be submitted to the competent organ for wildlife protection of the people's government of the province, autonomous region, or municipality directly under the Central Government.
Legal dilemmas in the use of aquatic wildlife
On January 1, 2017, the newly revised Wildlife Protection Law of the People's Republic of China came into effect, which has brought an important impact on the use of aquatic wildlife under the new situation.
However, after the implementation of the new law, the relevant laws and regulations have not been revised in a timely manner, and the licensing matters related to the use of aquatic wildlife have not been adjusted in a timely manner.
In recent years, as the state has become more standardized in the management of permits for the use of aquatic wild animals, the process of applying for permits has become more convenient. When applying for documents, mail the required materials to the window of the Agriculture and Forestry Bureau or the Rural Bureau in the market hall.
However, if the individual buyer does not want to sell it for the purpose of secondary sale, but only wants to simply purchase and use aquatic wildlife products or raise aquatic wild animals, such as in a farmer's market or bazaar where the business and utilization license has been obtained.
If you purchase aquatic wild animals for breeding without other business or use purposes, or purchase medicinal aquatic wild animal products from pharmacies that have obtained the relevant use and sales authority, you also need to apply for a series of aquatic wildlife utilization permits.
In addition, in the process of processing, individual buyers are also required to provide the seller's various qualification documents related to the use of aquatic wild animals. However, as a retailer, the merchant will not provide a complete purchase and sale contract and sales qualification to individual buyers under normal circumstances. Buyers can ask for invoices at most, while most provinces and cities currently do not recognize invoices.
In other words, theoretically, after an individual buyer buys aquatic wildlife from a legitimate merchant, the merchant registers it and issues a shopping voucher.
However, in practice, individual buyers also need to apply for a breeding license from the government with the purchase voucher, and individual buyers must also provide a sales contract and the seller's sales qualification documents when applying for a use permit. This is a great inconvenience for individual buyers to purchase and use aquatic wildlife.
With the booming aquatic economy, the trade in aquatic wildlife has gradually risen. However, at present, China's regulations on the use of some aquatic wild animals are not perfect, which makes the contradiction between supply and demand and standardized utilization gradually intensified, and undermines the order of market operation and utilization.
In particular, in terms of the use of aquatic wild animals by individuals and merchants, the premise for merchants to sell aquatic wild animals under national key protection is to have various aquatic wildlife use permits, so as to ensure the legality of their own sales behavior.
However, at present, the state does not have clear provisions on whether the buyer's permit for domestication, breeding or business utilization of aquatic wild animals and their products purchased from such sellers who have business and utilization permits, as well as important import and export aquatic wild animals and their products, need to be assessed in advance.
Countermeasures and suggestions to solve the legal dilemma of aquatic wildlife utilization
In recent years, the role of aquatic wildlife in the economy has become more prominent, and the issue of sustainable resource development has become more and more important. As a major fishery country and an important consumer of aquatic economic species, China must continue to improve the problems existing in the sustainable development and utilization of aquatic wildlife.
For a long time, China has been trying to find a set of standardized utilization models that are in line with the current situation of aquatic wildlife use and fishery governance in China, and realize the vision of parallel concepts of standardized utilization and rational development.
According to the legislative intent of "strictly regulating the approval of permits, innovating the supervision and licensing of utilization, and creating a good environment for the use of aquatic wildlife", the only way to further improve and standardize the licensing procedures and content related to the use of aquatic wildlife is to further improve and standardize them.
Only by enabling the user to have laws to follow and rules to follow, and to be able to find the one that is most in line with their own utilization behavior among all kinds of permits and use certificates, and to apply for it, can we better promote the healthy development of the aquatic wildlife utilization market, and this move is also in line with the current requirements of China's ecological civilization construction.
Therefore, in order to further implement the new Wildlife Protection Law, it is necessary to speed up the formulation or revision of relevant supporting laws and regulations, so that all kinds of aquatic wildlife use behaviors have corresponding regulations and regulations, so that users can easily apply for all kinds of relevant aquatic wildlife use permits.
All localities should also formulate and revise supporting local laws and regulations in light of local conditions. At the same time, it is also necessary to improve the relevant regulations on the use of artificially bred aquatic wild animals as soon as possible, clarify the scope of available species and the corresponding permits, and avoid ambiguity in administrative law enforcement.
This will cause great inconvenience to individual buyers to rationally use or raise relevant aquatic wild animals. The implementation of this policy is intended to regulate the legal use and breeding of aquatic wildlife, but the excessively strict and cumbersome use permit system for individual buyers will to some extent interfere with the market order of aquatic wildlife trade.
In addition, for some aquatic wildlife species that need to prove the legality of the source of the purchased aquatic wildlife species, it should also be proved by the place of purchase, that is, the seller. or the law clearly stipulates that when the seller sells aquatic wildlife to individual buyers, it must also issue a corresponding business and utilization license to facilitate the individual buyer to use or raise the relevant aquatic wildlife.
epilogue
There are many populations of aquatic wild animals, so the management norms for their use should also be tailored according to the conditions of different populations, and the management plan should not be generalized.
After the issuance of various types of licenses to units or individuals, it is not possible to "one certificate forever", and it is necessary to regularly do a good job in inspection and management, annual inspection and renewal of licenses that have been issued, and establish a detailed inspection, annual inspection and renewal management system.
At the same time, it is also necessary to do a good job in policy consultation and information exchange between the public and the approval mechanism, and update the public information in a timely manner, so that the user can understand the approval materials that need to be submitted for the use of the application