A labor broker has been fined NT$1 million (US$35,078) by the Fisheries Agency for deducting excessive amounts from the salaries of eight migrant fishers, who work on the Taiwanese-flagged Lien Yi Hsing No. 12, the agency said on Friday.
The fishers had in their contracts agreed that the broker could deduct a certain amount from their salaries for the repayment of loans, but the broker’s deductions exceeded the legal limit stipulated in the Act Governing Distant Water Fisheries (遠洋漁業條例) Fisheries Agency Deputy Director-General Lin Kuo-ping (林國平) said.
The deductions were US$100 above the legal limit for each of the fishers, Lin added.
The agency made the case public after US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) on Thursday issued a Withhold Release Order against the Lien Yi Hsing No. 12, barring fish from the vessel from being imported to the US.
CBP said in a statement that it had obtained “information that reasonably indicates the use of forced labor” on the vessel, including “deception, withholding of wages, and debt bondage.”
Lin said that the CBP would not remove the order until the vessel’s operator presents proof that it is not guilty of the allegations.
The agency already fined the broker in September, based on its own investigation into allegations against labor practices on the vessel by Greenpeace, including the withholding of wages of the workers on the ship by the owner, Lin said.
However, the investigation found that the vessel’s owner did not withhold wages or deduct money exceeding the agreed upon sums in the working contracts with the fishers, he said.
The contracts contained provisions on break times and insurance fees, and mentions a hotline for workers to file complaints, Lin said.
The deductions exceeding the legal limit were made by the broker, not by the vessel’s owner, he added.
The Greenpeace report, titled Seabound: The Journey to Modern Slavery on the High Seas, published on Dec. 9, 2019, accused the operators of 13 distant-water fishing vessels registered in Taiwan, China, Fiji and Vanuatu of labor abuses, including excessive overtime work, and physical and sexual abuse.
The owner of the Lien Yi Hsing No. 12 was accused in the report of withholding wages from the migrant fishers working on the vessel.
International media cited a worker on the vessel as saying that he only received a salary of US$50 in his first four months on the boat.
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