Inspections would be increased to curb human trafficking and forced labor at sea, the Fisheries Agency said on Thursday in response to calls to end to labor exploitation in the distant-water fisheries industry.
At a news conference earlier in the day, rights advocates urged legislative reforms to protect distant-water fisheries workers, citing the case of Sunoto, an Indonesian fisher who was allegedly abused to death on the Da Wang (大旺) — a Taiwanese-owned fishing vessel.
The US Customs and Border Protection in 2020 issued a withhold release order barring the Da Wang from unloading at US ports and in 2022 issued a formal finding against the vessel for committing all 11 of the forced labor indicators of the International Labour Organization, the rights advocates said.
Photo: Screen grab from the agency’s Web Site
The Kaohsiung District Prosecutors’ Office in 2022 indicted nine people, including the ship’s owner and captain, over the case, but it has not been resolved, they said.
Manny, a Filipino fisher who was on the vessel with Sunoto, sought asylum in Taiwan in 2020 after Sunoto died in 2019.
He has been listed as a witness in the case and has been assisting with judicial proceedings without traveling home to the Philippines for the past few years, they added.
“If I leave [Taiwan], Sunoto’s death could be forgotten. I stay for the Taiwanese legal system to recognize that migrant workers’ lives matter as well,” Manny said.
Greenpeace Taiwan ocean campaigner Kuo Pei-hsien (郭珮嫻) said that the Office of the US Trade Representative last month initiated a Section 301 investigation of potential forced labor practices in major economies, including Taiwan, following the signing of the Agreement on Reciprocal Trade between the US and Taiwan.
The Executive Yuan should promptly put forward a draft directive on corporate sustainability due diligence that includes high-risk industries such as distant-water fisheries to translate human rights compliance into international trade competitiveness, thereby ensuring the annual NT$40 billion (US$1.25 billion) output from distant-water fisheries exports, Kuo said.
She cited Sari Heidenreich, a Greenpeace senior human rights adviser based in Washington, as saying that systemic deficiencies exist in Taiwan’s policies and law enforcement regarding distant-water fisheries.
Distant-water fishery workers are not protected by the Labor Standards Act (勞動基準法) and the definition of human trafficking in Taiwan’s laws does not align with international standards, leading to workers being isolated at sea and lacking access to effective remedies, Kuo said.
The Fisheries Agency said that the Da Wang in 2022 was dismantled in Busan, South Korea.
Kaohsiung prosecutors earlier that year had flagged the vessel over alleged contraventions of the Human Trafficking Prevention Act (人口販運防制法), it said.
The agency has been promoting a fisheries and human rights action plan since 2022 to enhance labor rights at sea, including improving labor checks and setting explicit limits on flag of convenience fishing vessels funded or operated by Taiwanese.
Working conditions for foreign crew members hired by such vessels are required to be in line with the standards of Taiwanese-flagged distant-water fishing vessels, it said.
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