The Yokohama District Court sentenced a Chinese fishing boat captain to 18 months in prison, but suspended for five years, for poaching coral in Japanese territorial waters.
Xu Yizhong, 39, was also fined ¥4 million ($33,000) for illegally collecting precious red coral last Oct. 5 about 14 km off Chichijima, the biggest island in the Ogasawara chain about 1,000 km south of Tokyo in the Pacific Ocean.
Monday's ruling is the first court decision in connection with several cases of Chinese vessels spotted poaching red coral, which is highly prized in China for jewelry, around the Ogasawara and Izu chains from around last September to November.
Presiding Judge Hiroshi Narikawa said in the ruling that the coral is a "scarce and precious" resource that Japanese authorities have strived to protect from over-exploitation.
"There is no room for tolerance over his motives and circumstances. He wanted to get high rewards," the judge said.
Narikawa also said, however, that "the accused alone should not be forced to accept (all) responsibility."