"I thought that if I was caught, I would be fined a little money, but I didn't expect the price to be so big," the defendant said to reporters regretfully in an interview.
On May 13, 1954, the Guanting Reservoir, the first large-scale reservoir built after the founding of the People's Republic of China, was completed. On the occasion of the 70th anniversary of the completion of the Guanting Reservoir, CCTV-1 comprehensive channel "Today's Statement" column launched "Reservoir Poachers" (the first and second episodes), which reported in depth the largest series of illegal fishing aquatic products cases in Beijing heard by the Beijing Yanqing Court, and invited authoritative legal experts to interpret relevant legal issues.
"Today's Statement" 20240511 Reservoir Poachers (Part I)
"Today's Statement" 20240512 Reservoir Poachers (Part II)
Incident: "Extermination" fishing in a no-go zone
Between March 2021 and June 2023, Zhao and three other criminal gangs and Zhou illegally fished fish, shrimp and other aquatic products in the waters of the Guanting Reservoir in Yanqing District, Beijing, in the waters of the Guanting Reservoir in Yanqing District, Beijing, in the fishing ban zone, by going to remote river loops, river ditches and other shallow water areas at night to use ground cages, flower baskets, ecstasy arrays and other tools prohibited by Beijing. After the fish and shrimp were seized, Zhao and others immediately organized Bai and others to purchase and realize, and the court found out that the illegal profits were more than 400 yuan, and the restoration costs of the damaged ecological environment involved in the case were as high as more than 6.67 million yuan.
Trial: Adhere to the whole chain of crackdowns and cut off the chain of illegal interests
Biodiversity is related to human well-being, and aquatic biological communities, as an important part of aquatic ecosystems, maintain the stable and healthy development of aquatic ecosystems. As an important water conservation area in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region, the value of ecosystem services in the Guanting Reservoir is immeasurable, and the strictest system and the strictest rule of law should be adhered to to protect the ecological environment.
As for the criminal part, the court held that for environmental resource violations and crimes involving key areas, it is necessary to adhere to the criminal punishment standard of "all elements, all processes, and all chains", and firmly adhere to the legal bottom line and ecological red line with the determination to resolutely cut off the chain of illegal interests of environmental resource crimes. In this series of cases, the defendant violated the national laws and regulations on the protection of aquatic resources by using prohibited tools to illegally fish aquatic products in the prohibited fishing area, and the circumstances were serious, and his actions constituted the crime of illegal fishing of aquatic products, and should be punished in accordance with the law.
With regard to the attached civil public interest litigation, the court held that the use of prohibited fishing gear such as ground cages by illegal fishers has a significant destructive effect on the amount of aquatic biological resources and biodiversity, seriously affecting the overall stability of the ecosystem, and should bear the liability for compensation for ecological and environmental damages. Acquisition is the only way to realize profits from illegal fishing, and to prevent illegal fishing, it is necessary to completely cut off the chain of interests from the source, so the purchaser, as a joint infringer, shall be jointly and severally liable for the costs of restoring the ecological environment and the organizer.
Restoration: Persist in both crime and governance,
Explore new paths for multiple restoration
During the trial of the case, the court talked with the persons involved in the case one by one, urging them to actively perform their responsibilities for the restoration of the damaged ecological environment, and some of the defendants applied for alternative performance by participating in public welfare labor on the grounds that they were unable to pay compensation due to difficulties in life. To this end, the court conducted on-site visits and investigations, and held several consultations with the local administrative organs on the specific implementation plan of "labor compensation", and decided to set up public welfare posts such as ecological forest maintenance, river patrol and fish protection, and garbage cleanup at Guanting Reservoir National Wetland Park and Reservoir Shore Zone, and guided some defendants to perform their ecological environment restoration responsibilities through "labor compensation". In addition, in view of the lack of carbon sequestration function during the period from the damage to the ecological environment caused by illegal fishing to the completion of the restoration, some of the defendants voluntarily subscribed for 38 tons of carbon sinks for alternative restoration.
Judge: Let the destroyers be transformed into green ecological guardians
The judge said that there is no substitute for the ecological environment, and it is difficult to survive if it is not used. It is not only the basic requirement for the harmonious coexistence of man and nature, but also the basic responsibility of every citizen in social development and daily life.
In the field of ecological and environmental protection, it is necessary not only to implement effective sanctions for illegal and criminal acts, but also to maximize the restoration of the damaged ecological environment in the most conducive way of ecological protection, to achieve the organic unity of judicial punishment, publicity and education, and environmental restoration, and to strive to educate and guide the illegal and criminal personnel to change from the earlier "destroyers" of the ecological environment to the current "restorers" and future "protectors".
Expert Advice
Professor Hou Jiaru of China University of Political Science and Law pointed out in the program that the Guanting Reservoir is an important water resources protection area on the mainland, and the illegal fishing methods and illegal fishing tools used in the fishing ban area will cause great damage to the water environment. The guiding ideology of environmental legislation in the new era is the sustainable use of natural resources, and calls on the general public not to fish and hunt without burning forests, not to touch the red line of the law for the sake of temporary profits, to put an end to illegal fishing, and to work together to protect lucid waters and lush mountains.
Contributed by: Yanqing Court
Video source: CCTV "Today's Statement"
Editor: Wang Yuyang, Wang Xi
Review: Zhang Zhongtao