The Taiwan Fisheries Agency said the Taiwan government is safeguarding the rights and benefits of foreign crew members, following the release of a video exposing human rights abuses of migrant fisherman on Taiwanese-owned vessels.
The film by the Environmental Justice Foundation (EJF) highlighted issues including violence, abuse and threats, squalid conditions and unfair financial charges, however, the agency stated that the film is “not exactly the truth.”
The agency stated that “the Council of Agriculture promulgated and implemented the ‘Regulations on the Authorization and Management of Overseas Employment of Foreign Crew Members’ on 20 January 2017 under the empowerment of ‘Distant Water Fisheries Act’, aiming to improve the rights and benefits of foreign crew members.”
Strict regulations
It explained that the regulations for operators stipulated minimum wage and how this should be paid; minimum daily rest time and holiday per month; provision of accident, medical and life insurance and provision and payment of medical treatment following an accident or injury; enabling the filing of complaints to the relevant authorities and providing transportation costs between habitation of the foreign crew member and the fishing vessel.
The Fisheries Agency elaborated that the current regulations have already taken employment agents into management through establishing joint liability and the reviewing system.
The Fisheries Agency reiterated that it has implemented measures safeguarding rights and benefits of foreign crew members employed overseas by Taiwanese distant water fishing vessels and these measures will be reviewed accordingly to enhance human rights and protection of foreign crew members.
It said there are about 1,140 fishing vessels authorized to conduct distant water fisheries,and 19,000 foreign crew members are reported being employed on distant water fishing vessels, while the EJF reported there is almost 1,800 distant water vessels with a Taiwanese flag operate across the world with hundreds more owned by Taiwanese nationals.
