CBCGDF Volunteers Cleaned More Than 40 Ground Cages during Ecological Patrols

 In early April, the weather in Northeast China warmed up and rivers gradually thawed. From April 1 to April 4, volunteers from the Suihua Wetland Conservation Area of CBCGDF, together with law enforcement officers from the fishery administration department of Beilin District, Suihua City, conducted an ecological patrol of the Suihua section of the Hulan River.

 

On the afternoon of April 1, when the patrol officers came to the Dongfa Village area in Beilin District, they found that many ground dragon nets had been set up along the river bank. Although there was still a lot of unmelted snow or ice on the river bank, the wide and long river-blocking nets had been secretly placed in the middle of the river because the river water was shallow near the shore. Two staff members of the Beilin District Fishery Administration Squadron went down to the river beach with the volunteers to clean up the large ground cage nets they found. "The nets are very large, and it is very difficult to drag them ashore. Everyone was busy, and almost everyone was covered in mud. It was very hard," said the volunteer.

 

According to preliminary statistics, volunteers and fishery officers have cleared more than 40 ground traps along the river in the past few days. Most of these ground traps were put into the river not long ago in the spring of this year. After being dragged ashore, it was found that except for some loaches, there were basically no more fish in the nets. Volunteers and fishery team staff gathered them and destroyed them directly on the river beach.

 

If the fish caught illegally are not aquatic animal seedlings or broodstock with important economic value, or if they are caught illegally in aquatic germplasm resource protection areas, the illegal catch must reach 500 kilograms or be worth 10,000 yuan before criminal liability can be imposed. In this way, it is difficult to reach the criminal standard for illegal fishing using ground trap nets in reality, and criminal liability is generally not pursued.

 

However, it is also true that ground trap nets are harmful to inland freshwater fish resources. How to reduce this type of illegal fishing tools and fishing phenomena is directly related to the decision-making and management strength of the leaders of the fishery administration departments in various places. According to volunteers, the same Hulan River, the Qinggang County section, Wangkui County section, Zhaodong County section, etc., are far from having such dense ground trap nets as the Beilin District section. It is hoped that the Beilin District fishery administration department can pay full attention and take effective measures to reduce or even eliminate the use of local ground trap nets.

 

Original Chinese Article: https://mp.weixin.qq.com/s/lWfIEGkWHbLKe0yOVvGGiw

Translator: Maggie

Editor: Maggie

Checked by: YJ     

Contact: v10@cbcgdf.org; +8617319454776

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