【Summary】

In July 2020, three individuals, including Mr. Zhou XX and two others, set sail on an unlicensed and unregistered vessel that possessed no identification nor a known port of origin, traveling back and forth the coastal regions near the Sheyang County port in the municipality of Yancheng, Jiangsu a total of four times, employing the use of electric motors, and electric rods, and other illegal fishing instruments knowingly during the restricted fishing season by the means of trawling and electrofishing, blatantly disregarding the laws put in place to protect China’s natural environment and resources in addition to inflicting severe damage upon it. Thus, the Nanjing Municipal People’s Procuratorate filed a civil public interest lawsuit against the three individuals on marine natural resources and the ecological environment, demanding that Mr. Zhou XX and the two others assume liability and responsibility for the damages they inflicted on a delicate and protected ecosystem, in addition to economic reparations for these actions.

【Judgment】

In light of all applicable evidence against Mr. Zhou and his two acquaintances, the NMC came to the conclusion that the three individuals, due to their deliberate disregard for the preservation of marine and aquatic environments, should bear full responsibility for their actions and the cost of their consequences. However, the NMC does acknowledge and understand all three individuals ’ respective struggling economic situations and thus has taken the limitations of their ability for monetary compensation into account in its ruling, thus instead issuing of an alternative means of punishment in the form of labor compensation, and determined that the Wenzhou Ocean and Fishery Law Enforcement Detachment should punish the two responsible people from Zhejiang under the supervision of alternative labor services. After the verdict was announced in court, Mr. Zhou XX and the other two individuals all accepted the decision, and the lawsuit was dropped subsequently thereafter.

【Significance】

This case was issued on May 10, 2022, after the “Provision of the Supreme People’s Court and the Supreme People’s Procuratorate on Several Issues Concerning the Handling of Marine Natural Resources and Ecological Environmental Public Interest Litigation Cases” was released. For the first time, Nanjing Maritime Court accepted a lawsuit involving marine natural resources and environmental protection filed by the procuratorate. The civil public interest litigation case of ecological and environmental protection is also the first civil public interest litigation case in Jiangsu Province, where the judgment of inter-provincial and remote labor agencies to bear the responsibility for the restoration of ecological environment damage. The trial and the verdict of this case are both important measures taken by Nanjing Maritime Law to adhere to the concepts of prioritizing the environment, increase the judicial protection of marine natural resources and ecology, and actively respond to social concerns. It is also a successful practice of coordinated governance of the marine ecological environment in the Yangzi River Delta. It demonstrates the clear position and effectiveness of protecting the marine ecological environment with a stringent system and the rule of law and building a strong judicial protection barrier.

[Case No.] (2022) Su72Minchu No.1863