Recently, the E-commerce Environmental Responsibility Working Committee of China Biodiversity Conservation and Green Development Foundation (CBCGDF) have taken notice of a large number of electronic fish machines are sold online, and most of them are dispatched from Zhongshan City, Guangdong Province, the information which is confirmed after chatting to sellers. The Working Committee has invited the local department to interfere and investigate. These shops use advertisements including “strong floatage”, “special for catching fish with/ without scales”. It is assumed that shops have paid a lot for promotion because they are top-ranked in the searching result with high sales. In the comment section, many are showing off the fruits of catching- various sizes of fish are captured all in one net. A shop selling infrasonic wave electronic fish machine publicizes the machine can catch fish with a sphere of action of over 130 meters. Repeat tip-offs to the supervision department by volunteers fail to stop the shop as it changes to use new names for selling.
(Photo source: Internet)
The hazard of electro-fishing
Firstly, a large amount of fish, no matter what the size is, is the direct victim of the electro-fishing, destroying considerable fishery resources. Secondly, the electro-fishing machine pose threat to human safety for inappropriate operation and leakage of electricity, which happens a lot. Moreover, only a few creatures died of electro-fishing would be shipped by practitioners, and most animal bodies sink deep water, decomposing and impairing the water quality. If the frequency of electrofishing has exceeded the growth cycle of fish, then the local fishery resources will be hard to self-restore.
According to the Article 30 of Fisheries Law of the People’s Republic of China, “Anyone who fishes without a fishing license obtained per this Law shall have his catches and unlawful income confiscated and may be concurrently fined. In serious cases, his fishing gear may also be confiscated.”
The Article 5 and Article 13 of the E-Commerce Law of the People’s Republic of China regulate that “An e-commerce business shall, in business operation, abide by the principles of voluntariness, equality, equity and good faith, observe the law and business ethics, fairly participate in market competition, perform obligations in aspects including protection of consumer rights and interests, environment, intellectual property rights, cybersecurity, and individual information, assume responsibility for the quality of products or services, and accept the supervision by the government and the public” and “An e-commerce business shall sell commodities or provide services meeting the requirements for guaranteeing personal and property safety and for environmental protection and shall not sell or provide commodities or services the trading of which is prohibited by any law or administrative regulation.”
Therefore, major e-commerce platforms should pay high attention to this issue and shoulder their responsibility to secure public health and unswervingly combat illegal wildlife trade.
Repeated appeals have not stopped the online selling of illegal electrofishing machine.
The E-commerce Environmental Responsibility Working Committee of CBCGDF has repeatedly called on e-commerce platforms to remove such goods off. However, as of press time, electrofishing products are still available online. A volunteer alias Banyan says, “I am a volunteer of CBCGDF. To support the Wildlife-free E-commerce Initiative, I keep close attention to the illegal selling of electrofishing machine on e-commerce platforms. I make a report once I find shops trading such products. But my ability falls short of my wishes because there are so many electrofishing machines. I sincerely invite relevant departments to investigate and impose harsh punishment to lawbreakers, to create a sustainable future for fishery resources.”
(Photo source: Internet)
We hope e-commerce giants can be responsible and make an active contribution to ending illegal catching, conserving the ecological environment, create a clean cyber environment, thus promoting the construction of ecological civilization.
Original Chinese article:
http://www.cbcgdf.org/NewsShow/4854/12407.html
By / Wang Yanqing Modified / Maggie
cbcgdf.wordpress.com 