The clearing skies after the storm over the "Sea Palace" — The ultimate revelation of the "Sea Palace" case (Serial 10)
Part One: "Tuhao" Guo Moumou and His "Sea Palace"
9. After the Rain Clears
As the ancient saying goes, "A gale does not last all morning, a sudden downpour does not last all day." The public outcry came and went in a rush. This is both the power and the flaw of public opinion supervision, rooted in humanity's inability to sustain attention for long.
After the storm of public opinion, government departments returned to a more rational attitude and reached a more objective determination of the illegal nature of the "Sea Palace": Guo's Shenzhen Sea Elite Entertainment Co., Ltd. obtained a business license in 2007 under the guise of operating a leisure fishery project, but did not operate the "Sea Palace" structure as a leisure fishery project as required by business qualifications. Instead, it was used as a private club, not open to the public, resulting in non-compliance with marine functional zoning requirements, inability to obtain legal procedures, and illegal occupation of sea areas.
Based on the more objective determination of the illegal facts of the "Sea Palace" mentioned above, the Longgang District Oceanic Administration began to seriously study how to continue enforcing the "Administrative Penalty Decision" issued on February 13, 2009. Paying the fine was easy for the wealthy entrepreneur Guo, but "returning the illegally occupied sea area and restoring it to its original state" was not so simple. As mentioned earlier, during the construction of the "Sea Palace," Guo invested heavily, conducted repeated experiments, overcame many technical challenges, and solved hundreds of technical problems to develop a corrosion-resistant, typhoon-proof, and rock-solid floating structure. It was difficult to build and equally difficult to dismantle. To prevent marine pollution, ensure the safety of neighboring aquaculture households, and overcome the limitation that large tugboats could not enter shallow waters, plans such as demolition by blasting or complete towing away could not be perfectly implemented. Based on the new situation of China's marine economic development at the time, combined with the actual conditions of Longgang District's sea areas and the demands of the public and the parties involved, the Longgang District Oceanic Administration considered factors such as "compliance with functional zoning," "maximizing resource utilization," and "no new environmental pollution." After repeated research and discussion, a consensus was reached, and it was ultimately decided to dismantle and tow away the "Sea Palace," transforming it into one aquaculture raft and one leisure fishing raft according to its structure and functional requirements, within the red line of Dongshan Bay shallow sea aquaculture area, to be operated as a leisure fishery project in accordance with laws and regulations.
On May 13, 2010, witnessed by the media and the public, the "Sea Palace" was dismantled into three parts and relocated to a sea area designated by the Oceanic Administration. Subsequently, Guo quickly gathered technical personnel and proposed a floating island renovation plan that maximized the protection of existing innovative achievements, which was promptly submitted to and approved by the Longgang District Oceanic Administration (Figures 43, 44). This was essentially a compromise. On one hand, the government did not insist on completely demolishing the "Sea Palace," reflecting its tolerant attitude toward such innovative entities and its appreciation of social wealth. On the other hand, the "Sea Palace" had to legally obtain sea area use rights, comply with the functional zoning restrictions of the sea area, align its main business with marine aquaculture and leisure fisheries, and be open to the public.
After spending millions of yuan on dismantling and renovating the "Sea Palace," Sea Elite Entertainment Co., Ltd. again applied to the Longgang District Oceanic Administration for a sea area use certificate. Based on the "Shenzhen Aquaculture Waters and Tideland Plan (2003-2015)" and the "Interim Regulations on the Management of Sea Fishing Rafts in Longgang District," the Longgang District Oceanic Administration conducted an on-site review of the renovated "Sea Palace" structure on December 22, 2010, and agreed in principle to register the renovated marine structure for aquaculture. On December 25, 2010, the district Oceanic Administration officially issued an aquaculture registration certificate.
Figure 43: Page 1 of the Longgang District Oceanic Administration's approval of the "Sea Palace" renovation plan.
Figure 44: Page 2 of the Longgang District Oceanic Administration's approval of the "Sea Palace" renovation plan.
(待续)
