KUNMING, June 4 (Xinhua) -- Two defendants in an illegal fishing case were fined and told to release fish fry into the Dianchi Lake in the city of Kunming, capital of southwest China's Yunnan Province, according to a local court Tuesday.

The defendants, surnamed Min and Qian, used a set of discharging devices for illegal fishing on Oct. 1, 2017 in a river in the Zhengjiahe Village of Xishan District in Kunming, according to the local people's procuratorate.

Their activities during the moratorium on fishing was a crime and severely affected fish spawning in the lake while damaging the environment, the prosecutor said.

Each of the two defendants were fined 2,000 yuan (289 U.S. dollars) and their fishing devices were confiscated. They were each required to release fish fry worth 4,000 yuan into the Dianchi lake and ordered to make a public apology, according to the People's Court of Panlong District in Kunming.

After the verdict, the two defendants poured a total of 80,000 fish fry into the Dianchi Lake Tuesday.