TWO people were recently arrested for illegally using an electric trawl net to catch fish off Dapeng Peninsula in Dapeng New Area. It is Shenzhen’s first case involving the illegal use of electric fishing tools, the Southern Metropolis Daily reported yesterday.

Law enforcement officers from the Shenzhen division of the provincial fishery administrative department found that a fishing boat was catching fish with an electric trawl net in the southern area off Dapeng Peninsula on March 21.

Around 50 kilograms of fish were seized from the boat, and two fishermen — identified as Zou and Yan — admitted that they had used the electric trawl net to fish, according to the Daily report.

According to fisheries laws in China, it’s illegal for fishermen to use an electric trawl net to catch fish, and violators will be fined up to 50,000 yuan (US$7,258) and have their fishing licenses revoked and fishing tools confiscated. Severe violators will be held criminally responsible and might face a jail term of no longer than three years.

The city’s fishery administration department handed the case over to the Shenzhen Municipal Public Security Bureau on April 6, and the Shenzhen prosecutors recently arrested Zou and Yan for the illegal capture of aquatic products, according to the report.

(Zhang Yang)