The US Bureau of International Labor Affairs is later this year to announce whether Taiwanese-caught fish would be removed from its List of Goods Produced by Child Labor or Forced Labor. Taiwan made the list in 2020 and 2022, largely because of its treatment of foreign fishers.
While the government says steps have been taken to improve the living and working conditions of fishers and to align with international labor standards, migrant fishers and non-governmental organizations are skeptical.
One Indonesian fisherman, who identified himself as “Tarzan,” said that many fishers he knew still had to work during Eid al-Fitr, the Muslim holiday that marks the end of its month of fasting, even though there are regulations that allow them to take the religious holiday off.
Photo: Liu Yu-ching, Taipei Times
Tarzan said he was often physically pushed by his former boss when his work fell short of the boss’ standards, but he never reported it to the Fisheries Agency for fear of getting into “trouble” with his labor broker.
Fisheries Agency senior specialist Chiu Yi-hsien (邱宜賢) said crew members who have problems with their employers can safely file complaints using the government’s “1955 hotline” or the Foreign Crew Interactive Service Platform without having to worry about their identities being exposed to their employers.
Still, problems remain embedded in the system, said Achmad Mudzakir, head of Forum Silaturahmi Pelaut Indonesia, the largest Indonesian migrant fishers’ association in Taiwan.
Late wage payments remain a serious problem for migrant fishers, Mudzakir said, citing an incident last year during which 19 Indonesian fishers were owed wages ranging from six to 10 months, adding that hey were finally paid after the Fisheries Agency stepped in and held two meetings with their employers.
Varying amounts are deducted from distant-water fishers’ wages and paid to labor brokers as “administrative fees,” Mudzakir said, adding that such fees are collected as an alternative to job placement fees, which is illegal.
The problem is further complicated by the lack of Wi-Fi on many Taiwanese fishing vessels, as the workers are denied means of communication for several months and can only contact their families when they dock at a port, Serve the People Association migrant worker policies director Lennon Wong (汪英達) said.
Labor rights groups have been urging the Fisheries Agency to require employers to directly pay migrant fishers monthly rather than through brokers every three or six months, but few, if any, shipowners have adopted the groups’ suggestion, Wong said.
Another pervasive issue in the distant-water fishing sector is long working hours, he said.
The problem has persisted, despite a legal revision in 2022 requiring employers to give distant-water fishers at least 10 hours of rest, including at least six consecutive hours of sleep and 77 hours of rest per seven days, Wong said.
However, the Fisheries Agency said it inspected about 80 percent of Taiwan’s distant-water fishing vessels in the past two years and found that 89 percent of them fully complied with working-hour regulations.
No wage-related contraventions were reported for 95 percent of the vessels checked, it added.
The figures are misleading, because most migrant fishers, such as Tarzan, do not dare file complaints with government agencies, Wong said.
Under the Regulations of Temporary Entry Permit for Foreigners (外國人臨時入國許可辦法), distant-water fishing vessels are only allowed to dock at a Taiwanese port for one week and no more than two weeks, he said.
Some migrant fishers who filed grievances have been fired and quickly deported, because they did not have enough time to land a new job, Wong said.
Chiu said that once a grievance has been filed, the agency would look into it and take necessary action, such as fining offenders or asking them to make improvements, regardless of whether the complainant has been deported.
Shipowners found with major offenses would have their fishing licenses suspended or revoked, Chiu added.
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