Forced labor and illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing continue to be pervasive in Taiwan's distant water fishing industry, Greenpeace said in a report released on Monday.
From 2019 to this year, Greenpeace received 10 reports from Indonesian fishers who allegedly experienced forced labor and illegal fishing in Taiwan, naming 12 Taiwanese distant water fishing vessels, the report said.
Greenpeace called for the Taiwanese government to take action by requiring Wi-Fi, security cameras and logs of working conditions aboard all distant water fishing vessels, ensuring wage protection and safeguarding the rights of crew members at a news conference this morning.
This year, Taiwanese fishing vessels featured on the US Department of Labor’s "List of Goods Produced by Child Labor or Forced Labor" for the third time, said Tommy Chung (鍾孟勳), ocean campaigner for Greenpeace East Asia Taipei office.
The Ministry of Agriculture (MOA) recently announced plans to remove Taiwanese vessels from the list by 2026, but “the exploitation revealed in this report underscores systemic issues in Taiwan’s distant water fishing industry,” Chung said.
The 12 vessels are accused of confiscating identification documents from fishers and deceiving them, with some vessels suspected of taking advantage of their vulnerable status and using debt bondage, which leaves indebted fishers open to exploitation, he said.
Three vessels were also reported for catching sharks, cutting off their fins and removing the meat before throwing the remaining carcasses back into the sea, he added.
One fisher got into an accident while out at sea and received inadequate medical care after returning to shore, leading him to go blind in his right eye, Chung said.
In the mediation settlement, the fisher’s injury was reported as just “blurred vision,” so he was ineligible for an insurance claim and received only NT$50,000 in compensation, he said.
Another vessel was reported for only giving crew members one hour to sign an employment contract before departing for sea, which led to them having to work 21 hours per day and eat expired food, he said.
One worker was sent back to Indonesia just four months into his two-year contract, and the agency kept his salary and the agency fee, meaning the fisher essentially did four months of unpaid labor, he added.
These cases are just the tip of the iceberg on the systemic exploitation of fishers in Taiwan as many are unable to have their voices heard, Yilan Migrant Fishermen Union secretary-general Allison Lee (李麗華) said.
Despite the MOA’s Fisheries Agency requiring security cameras and records of working conditions to be on all distant sea fishing vessels, cases of mistreatment and bullying continue to pile up, she said.
Lee called on the government to allow only distant water fishing vessels with Wi-Fi to leave ports so that workers could call for help if needed.
The government should ensure that all fishing vessels are paying their workers regularly and adequately and that workers are paid directly and not through mediators or agencies, said Lennon Wong (汪英達), director of migrant worker policies at Serve the People Association in Taoyuan.
He also called for a system to be put in place for workers to transfer between vessels to avoid forced repatriation, granting distant sea fishers their rights under the Labor Standards Act (勞動基準法).
