Typical cases
On February 3, 2023, the Nanjing Environmental Resources Court publicly heard the country's first civil public interest lawsuit of illegal release of alien species and pronounced the verdict in court, ruling that the defendants Xu and Liu should be jointly and severally liable for a total of RMB 58,000 for the direct damage to the fishery resources of Changdang Lake, the loss of service functions from the damage to the ecological environment to the completion of the restoration, punitive damages and expert assessment fees caused by the illegal release. In 2020, Xu went to Qianzi Lake in Jintan District, Changzhou City, where there is a warning sign prohibiting fishing250,000 catties of catfish prayed for blessings, and then a large number of catfish died, and a total of more than 90,000 yuan was paid for salvage and other emergency disposal costs. Changdang Lake is a lake where an important water area in the Yangtze River basin is located. It was identified that the catfish released by Xu and others was a leather-bearded catfish, which is an alien species with strong invasion ability, and once the invasion is successful, it will cause significant damage to the water ecosystem of Changdang Lake. After a preliminary review by the Jintan District Procuratorate, it was found that although the conduct of Xu and others occurred before the Criminal Law Amendment (11) came into effect, it met the requirements for handling public interest litigation cases, and immediately initiated the filing and review of public interest litigation. 
Legal Terms
Article 344 of the Criminal Law of the People's Republic of China is the crime of illegally introducing, releasing and discarding invasive alien species. This crime refers to the illegal introduction, release or discarding of invasive alien species in violation of national regulations, where the circumstances are serious.
**Tips
The invasion of alien species is a major security issue that threatens national biodiversity, ecological security and public health, and has risen to the height of the most important strategy. Blind release without scientific guidance and legal supervision will cause damage to the local ecosystem and bring huge risks to biosecurity, and will inevitably bear corresponding legal responsibilities.