[Case brief]

On August 18, 2011, the ship PANTEA of the defendant Islamic Republic of Iran Shipping Lines (IRISL) came to an anchor at the anchorage of Jingtang Port. It set sail at 02:24 on September 1 of the same year from the anchorage of Jingtang Port, and anchored at 39°11′05.6″N/119°14′15.3″E at 08:42 on the same day. It anchored at39°12′188″N/119°14′255″E on September 5 of the same year and left the sea area at 16:51 on September 10 of the same year. On September 15 of the same year, the Tidal Flat Management Station of Laoting County Fisheries Bureau issued an investigation report, stating that the ship involved in the case broke into the scallop breeding area of Laoting County and broke the scallop culture ropes of Li and others in Laoting County, so that all the scallop breeding cages were damaged, the scallops died, and the breeding devices such as floating balls and ropes were damaged or lost.

[Judicial decision]

Tianjin Maritime Court made the judgment that Islamic Republic of Iran Shipping Lines should provide the eight plaintiffs including Li with a compensation of RMB 1,076,932.4 and other claims of the eight plaintiffs were rejected.

[Significance]

The Tianjin-Hebei coast has busy shipping and densely distributed breeding areas. There are frequent accidents caused by ships, especially foreign ships, entering the breeding areas. In the trial of the case, the Court equally protected the legitimate rights and interests of the Chinese and foreign parties and resolved three interrelated legal issues: for the proportion of liability, the principle of fault offsetting should apply; for compensation items, the principle of loss and profit offsetting should apply according to the specific breeding conditions of fishermen; for compensation criteria, the specific amount should be determined based on legal standards and the faults of the parties. This case has a positive significance for regulating the shipping and breeding order along the Tianjin-Hebei coast.