Fishing vessel Management in Taiwan: the introduction of the New Fisheries Policy in 2019 and the Scientific Progress of Fisheries Modernization

The development of the fishing industry is also getting better and better, and the treatment of fishermen is also getting better and better in terms of policies. which of the latest policies is new? Let's take a look.

In December last year, the Fisheries Department announced in advance amendments to nine provisions of the measures for the permit and Administration of overseas Employment of non-Chinese Seafarers, such as the retention of video recording certificates for three years when signing contracts, and if crew members are unequally treated on fishing vessels, they can also request for early termination of the labor contract, specify the definition of wages, and strengthen the rest time stipulation, and the notice period is until 11 February this year.

The video recording of the whole process of signing the contract must be filed for 3 years

There is no more recent well-known human rights incident of employing crew members abroad than the Taiwan fishing boat "Fushi 11" was accused of excessive deduction of crew pay and insufficient rest time. In October last year, the Fisheries Department transferred the owner, captain, and intermediary owners of the ship to the Kaohsiung District Prosecutor's Office on the grounds that the ship was suspected of violating the "Human trafficking Prevention Law." in addition, a few years ago, the "Fu Chi Group" suspected of abusing the Indonesian crew Supriyanto is still under investigation.

Lin Guoping, Deputy Director of Fisheries, pointed out that this amendment has been communicated with the industry, NGO, experts and scholars, and relevant ministries. The revised provisions on the signing of labor contracts can protect the rights and interests of both crew and shipowners. In the event of disputes in the future, both sides will have empirical evidence to restore the actual situation of signing contracts.

In addition, in order to solve the problem of language gap, a demonstration film in the language of the country of origin of the crew will be produced in the future, which will be broadcast by the shipowner before signing the contract, so that the crew can understand the contents of the contract and relevant laws and regulations.

The biggest breakthrough this time is the explanation of rights and obligations before signing the contract, and the signing process requires uninterrupted video recording. Lin Guoping said that the mobile phone can record the whole process, and the film file must be retained for three years. If the rights and interests of either party are damaged in the future, this image record will also be one of the evidence.

At this stage, the AFD can conduct a questionnaire survey to find out whether the wages of overseas seafarers have been harshly deducted.

The new crew can cancel the contract, and the actual situation still needs to be communicated on the spot.

In order to be in line with the International Labour Organization Fisheries work Convention No. 188, the amendment also adds the attribution of crew insurance liability, amending that crew members should have a rest time of not less than 77 hours every 7 days, and that new crew members may request disembarkation and return to their country of origin. In addition, wages are specified as remuneration for crew members' performance of labor contracts, including wages, salaries or other nominal regular payments.

First optimize domestic laws and regulations, and then talk about foreign intermediary issues.

In view of the issue of human rights of overseas seafarers, the government continues to amend laws and regulations, but in practice, how to operate is the key.

Not long ago, the "Juyang case" suspected of human trafficking in foreign countries was put on the table for discussion, and this amendment of the law stipulates that if the person in charge or representative of an agency has committed the crime of Article 2, paragraph 2, of the Law on the Prevention of Human trafficking, it will not be allowed to apply to become an intermediary, which makes people wonder whether the Fisheries Department intends to manage foreign agency issues.

"domestic law can only manage domestic cases." Lin Guoping stressed once again that the Juyang case has been transferred to prosecution, but if other countries are unwilling to provide relevant evidence, they will not be able to punish them.This is related to Taiwan's diplomatic situation and mutual legal assistance.

Lin Guoping said that when the Indonesian labor minister came to Taiwan in December last year, there were discussions hoping to cooperate with the Indonesian government. Relevant regulations such as intermediary management or government inspection should be done well to protect the rights and interests of Indonesian citizens and Chinese shipowners. At that time, the Indonesian Labor Minister mentioned that there were three administrative units for the export of labor in the country, which must be integrated before they can be discussed. At present, the Fisheries Agency should first optimize domestic management as far as possible. Protect the human rights of seafarers employed abroad.

Now, you know, with these policies, the economic benefits of fishermen should be higher and higher, and the standard of living will be better and better.