The Tianjin Maritime Court has made a first-instance judgment, ordering the American energy firm ConocoPhillips to pay 1.7 million yuan -- or 260 thousand US dollars -- to 21 Chinese fishermen, who claimed their fishing interests and livelihoods were severely damaged by the 2011 Bohai Bay oil spill.
The verdict temporarily ends nearly four years of haggling between the fishermen, and both ConocoPhillips and Chinese state-owned oil giant China National Offshore Oil Corp. The two compainies were held responsible for the contamination of more than 62-hundred square kilometers of water in Bohai Bay, north China. In 2012, Chinese authorities reached a settlement with the two companies, where they were fined one billion yuan in total.
The State Oceanic Administration also levied a 1.7 billion yuan penalty for the damages caused to the maritime eco-system. The 21 fishermen -- in the most recent case -- did not join the settlement process and filed their litigation in 2011. Last December, the court conducted a two-day hearing of the case but did not deliver a verdict.