Hijackers plague fishermen

Taiwanese fishermen yesterday accused officials of failing to provide aid to crews of Taiwan-registered vessels hijacked to foreign countries by Chinese fishermen, who often have links to so-called "people smugglers."

The fishermen requested the establishment of a comprehensive mechanism to enable officials to handle such cases.

At a press conference held by People First Party Legislator Liu Wen-hsiung (劉文雄), fishermen complained about the government's failure to provide help -- such as interpretation and legal services -- after hijackings.

According to the Fisheries Administration under the Council of Agriculture, since June last year there have been 13 cases in which Chinese fishermen have hijacked Taiwanese vessels, mostly to Guam but some to North America where the hijackers seek work.

Chen Tain-shou (陳添壽), a director of the administration, said that such cases have increased recently.

Facing a shortage of Taiwanese fishermen, locals often recruit Chinese fishermen, frequently from underground brokers to keep their costs down.

The underground brokers are invariably "people smugglers," known in Chinese as "snakeheads."

The fishermen blamed insufficient help from the government for their failure to secure hijackers' convictions after bringing lawsuits against them abroad.

"More hijackings will occur due to the lack of punishment," Liu said.

Usually the first Taiwanese agency to be informed of a hijacking is the Fisheries Administration, which then seeks assistance from other government agencies, usually the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Chang Fu-chin (張福進), captain of the Chuan Fu Yu (全福漁號), forced to Guam by eight Chinese laborers, said that the government did little to help him after his boat was hijacked.

"The Ministry of Foreign Affairs representative in Guam left immediately after giving me his business card and asked me to call if necessary, while the hijackers had stolen every penny belonging to the Taiwanese crew members," he said. "Speaking no English and without interpreters, we were incapable of communicating with the FBI investigators."

The owner of the Shun Hsin 88 (順興88號), Chen Ing-jen (陳英仁), said he inadvertently found himself on the wrong side of the law.

"The people who hijacked the Shun Hsin 88 in January, defended by lawyers paid for by the people smugglers, were found not guilty by the Guam court."

And yet ironically, Chen lacked legal counsel and became suspected of smuggling people to the US.

Su Keng-cheng (蘇耿誠), a foreign affairs official, said ministry officials in Guam had done plenty to help. "It's just that we lack enough staff to enable the victims to see how much of an effort we made."

The fisheries administration said that it tried its best to help hijacked fishermen, but that it lacked direct access to the governments of countries to which vessels were hijacked.

Liu also said that an inter-agency special task force should be formed to help prevent hijacking and provide immediate assistance to Taiwanese victims.