He Junting and He Junduan, captain and chief engineer of the ship Qionghaiyu 0318 registered in Qionghai city, Hainan Province in south China, were convicted by the Sansha Islands Court on Thursday of acquiring 24 sea turtles from Philippine fishermen on October 11.

They gave their Philippine counterparts three packages of rice, three boxes of cooking oil and three boxes of biscuits in exchange for the animals, which are under government protection.

He Junting was sentenced to three years in prison with a reprieve of four years and He Junduan was sentenced to six months in prison with a reprieve of one year. They were also fined 5,000 yuan (817 U.S. dollars) and 1,000 yuan respectively.

The two were caught by Chinese coast guards on October 21. Two of the 24 turtles died and the rest were released to the sea.

This was the first trial at China's southernmost court since its establishment in January last year.

Sansha City, on Yongxing, one of the Xisha islands, was officially established in 2012 to administer the Xisha, Zhongsha and Nansha island groups and their surrounding waters in the South China Sea.