Twelve Chinese fishermen received prison sentences ranging from six to 12 years by a Philippine Palawan regional court after the group's vessel rammed into Tubbataha Reef Natural Park in April last year.

According to the Philippine newspaper Philstar, the Palawan court convicted the fishermen of poaching and violating the Tubbataha Reefs National Park Act of 2009. The vessel's captain, Liu Wenjie, was sentenced to 12 years in prison, and 11 other fishermen got sentences ranging from six to 10 years.

Each was fined $100,000, according to the provincial prosecutor Allen Ross Rodriguez, who added that the 12 will be imprisoned at the Iwahig Penal Colony in Palawan.