The first fishing vessel to be detained for contravening the UN’s Work in Fishing Convention was from Taiwan, the International Labor Organization (ILO) said on Tuesday.
ILO spokesman Hans von Rohland said that “the ship was from Taiwan” and its owner was based there, Agence France-Presse reported.
The fishing vessel was detained in Cape Town, South Africa, in May following complaints by the crew about working conditions and was released at the end of last month, the ILO said in a news release.
The ship’s owner was required to address problems found in an inspection carried out under the provisions of the convention, which took effect in November last year and is aimed at protecting the 38 million workers in the industry around the globe, the ILO said.
The ILO did not provide a name for the ship, but a photograph on its Web site accompanying the news release showed a vessel with a Taiwanese flag, Chinese characters for the ship’s name (unclear) and Kaohsiung, and an English name (also unclear).
After the boat was detained, two inspectors from the South African Maritime Safety Authority found a long list of problems, including “lack of documentation, poor accommodation, insufficient food for fishers, and poor safety and health conditions on board,” the ILO said.
“Only two of the crew members had work agreements and there was not even a crew list,” the news release quoted one of the inspectors, Thelma Paul, as saying.
According to the news release, crew members complained of having to manually pull in fish that were caught and carrying heavy loads to the fish storage facility — and some said that they wanted to leave the vessel.
South Africa is one of 10 countries to have ratified the convention, along with Angola, Argentina, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Congo, Estonia, France, Lithuania, Morocco and Norway.
INVESTIGATION: The case is the latest instance of a DPP figure being implicated in an espionage network accused of allegedly leaking information to Chinese intelligence Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) member Ho Jen-chieh (何仁傑) was detained and held incommunicado yesterday on suspicion of spying for China during his tenure as assistant to then-minister of foreign affairs Joseph Wu (吳釗燮). The Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office said Ho was implicated during its investigation into alleged spying activities by former Presidential Office consultant Wu Shang-yu (吳尚雨). Prosecutors said there is reason to believe Ho breached the National Security Act (國家安全法) by leaking classified Ministry of Foreign Affairs information to Chinese intelligence. Following interrogation, prosecutors petitioned the Taipei District Court to detain Ho, citing concerns over potential collusion or tampering of evidence. The
Seventy percent of middle and elementary schools now conduct English classes entirely in English, the Ministry of Education said, as it encourages schools nationwide to adopt this practice Minister of Education (MOE) Cheng Ying-yao (鄭英耀) is scheduled to present a report on the government’s bilingual education policy to the Legislative Yuan’s Education and Culture Committee today. The report would outline strategies aimed at expanding access to education, reducing regional disparities and improving talent cultivation. Implementation of bilingual education policies has varied across local governments, occasionally drawing public criticism. For example, some schools have required teachers of non-English subjects to pass English proficiency
NEGOTIATIONS: The US response to the countermeasures and plans Taiwan presented has been positive, including boosting procurement and investment, the president said Taiwan is included in the first group for trade negotiations with the US, President William Lai (賴清德) said yesterday, as he seeks to shield Taiwanese exporters from a 32 percent tariff. In Washington, US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer said in an interview on Fox News on Thursday that he would speak to his Taiwanese and Israeli counterparts yesterday about tariffs after holding a long discussion with the Vietnamese earlier. US President Donald Trump on Wednesday postponed punishing levies on multiple trade partners, including Taiwan, for three months after trillions of US dollars were wiped off global markets. He has maintained a 10 percent
TRADE: The premier pledged safeguards on ‘Made in Taiwan’ labeling, anti-dumping measures and stricter export controls to strengthen its position in trade talks Products labeled “made in Taiwan” must be genuinely made in Taiwan, Premier Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰) said yesterday, vowing to enforce strict safeguards against “origin laundering” and initiate anti-dumping investigations to prevent China dumping its products in Taiwan. Cho made the remarks in a discussion session with representatives from industries in Kaohsiung. In response to the US government’s recent announcement of “reciprocal” tariffs on its trading partners, President William Lai (賴清德) and Cho last week began a series of consultations with industry leaders nationwide to gather feedback and address concerns. Taiwanese and US officials held a videoconference on Friday evening to discuss the
RSS