On April 18, 2024, a case of illegal fishing of aquatic products was publicly tried in the Minjiang Changmu National Aquatic Germplasm Resources Conservation Area, which was filed by the Shizhong District Procuratorate of Leshan City. More than 100 people, including responsible comrades of the Municipal Procuratorate and Municipal Court, deputies to the National People's Congress, members of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, people's supervisors, township (street) cadres, fishery administration and law enforcement personnel, volunteers of "Benefiting the Public", and villager representatives, attended the meeting.
The prosecutor who undertook the trial introduced that on September 30, 2023, Li and You Moumou carried electric fish tools to the shore near the Banqiao Power Station of Group 2 of a village in a town in Shizhong District, and used the wooden fishing boat prepared by You Moumou in advance to the electric fish in the Minjiang Changmuyu National Aquatic Germplasm Resources Conservation Area, and the two worked together, You Moumou was responsible for electric fish and fishing, and Li was responsible for rowing and fishing, and the latter two were blocked by fishery law enforcement officers, and 80 fish were seized at the scene, totaling 22.875 kg.
After examination, the Shizhong District Procuratorate believes that the water area where the case occurred is located in the Minjiang Changmu National Aquatic Germplasm Resources Protection Area in the upper reaches of the Yangtze River, and the water area is included in the management of key waters of the Yangtze River, and is the main growth and breeding area of aquatic germplasm resources with high economic value and genetic breeding value. For their own selfish interests, Li and You still used electric fish tools to cause great damage to the already fragile ecological environment, resulting in a decrease in the total amount of aquatic products, knowing that the waters where the case occurred belonged to the fishing ban area and the Minjiang Longsnout Fish National Aquatic Germplasm Resources Protection Area. According to the determination of the relevant departments, the total value of the direct and indirect damage caused by the acts of Li and You to the aquatic biological resources is 109629 yuan, which has seriously endangered ecological security, and shall bear the corresponding civil tort liability. The procuratorate filed a civil public interest lawsuit attached to the criminal case in accordance with the law, requesting that Li and You be ordered to perform their ecological restoration responsibilities and increase and release fish fry worth 109629 yuan.
"I regret my actions very much, I know I was wrong and I will never fish illegally again. I plead guilty and accept punishment and promise to never commit ...... again" Li and You confessed to the facts of the crime charged by the procuratorate, pleaded guilty and accepted punishment in court, and expressed their willingness to assume responsibility for ecological restoration. After trial, the Shizhong District Court upheld all the litigation claims of the procuratorate, and found that the actions of Li and You constituted the crime of illegal fishing of aquatic products, and sentenced Li to eight months in prison and a one-year suspended sentence, and You to nine months in prison and a suspended sentence of one year and two months;
After the trial, with the assistance of the fishery administration department of Shizhong District, and under the joint witness of the Shizhong District Procuratorate and the court, Li and You Moumou carried out breeding and release on the shore of the trial site.
Finally, the Shizhong District Procuratorate carried out on-site law popularization, through the distribution of publicity materials, answering questions, etc., to popularize the legal knowledge of ecological environmental protection closely related to daily production and life to the masses, through the explanation of relevant typical cases, in enhancing the awareness of ecological environmental protection of the masses at the same time, guide the masses to give full play to the role of social supervision, and actively participate in the protection of aquatic germplasm resources.
In recent years, based on the legal supervision function, the Shizhong District Procuratorate of Leshan City has continued to carry out the "Special Action to Rectify Illegal Fishing of Aquatic Products", severely cracked down on illegal and criminal activities that endanger fishery resources in the upper reaches of the Yangtze River, reviewed and closed more than 20 cases of illegal fishing of aquatic products, prosecuted more than 30 people and obtained guilty verdicts, and urged the parties to consciously fulfill their responsibilities for ecological restoration.
(Li Jiayang, Shizhong District Procuratorate, Leshan City)