SHANGHAI -- A court in Shanghai has sentenced a man to one year in jail for poaching and killing an endangered Chinese sturgeon, with a fine of 5,000 yuan (about 704 U.S. dollars).

The defendant surnamed Xing sailed his own boat and netted a Chinese sturgeon and other fish without a license off the coast of Sheshan Island of Chongming District on Aug. 6 last year, according to the Chongming District People's Court.

Xing was also ordered to make a public apology for his act, and pay an additional 40,000 yuan in compensation for the environmental harm caused by the illegal hunting and killing of rare and endangered wildlife, according to the verdict delivered by the court on June 3.

The Chinese sturgeon he caught was 60 cm long and weighed 935 grams. Believed to have lived at the same time as dinosaurs, the Chinese sturgeon is on the country's top protection list.