According to the investigation conducted by the Fisheries Department, 30% of the ocean-going fishing vessels are suspected to have violated the rules and overcharged the wages or working hours of foreign fishermen.

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In response to the reported problems of abuse and excessive deduction of wages of foreign fishermen in recent months, the Fisheries Department held a press conference today (7) to show the current practical measures. Director of Fisheries Huang Hung-Yan pointed out that since the implementation of the three ocean-going laws last year, 65 ocean-going fishing vessels and 133 crew members have been inspected. Of these, 30% are suspected of violations, mainly due to long working hours or excessive wage deductions, and will make a further understanding of the cases. In May and June, the Fisheries Department also imposed a fine of 250000 on fishing vessels that illegally employed deckhands and received a licence for two months.

30% of the ocean-going fishing vessels are suspected to have violated the rules.

The Fisheries Department expects to visit 80 ocean-going fishing vessels and more than 450 foreign crew members by the end of this year, and evaluate more than half of the intermediary agencies. Huang Hongyan said that at present, most of the complaints received are harsh deductions of wages under various names. "We think that they should not be deducted and must be returned." So far, 8340 US dollars in outstanding wages and 1596 US dollars in deposit have been recovered.

Wang Maocheng, deputy head of the Offshore Fisheries Section of the Fisheries Department, explained that 30% of the survey results so far at the end of last year were suspected of violations, but because there was a language gap in the design of the questionnaire, the results may be distorted. There will be further in-depth investigations into the cases, and "the actual cases of violations may be even lower."

Are there any cases in which you didn't get paid? Huang Hongyan pointed out that if he had not been paid, the fishermen would have gone on strike long ago. 90% of the ocean-going fishing vessels were foreign fishermen, and they could join hands to make the vessels unable to operate, and the ship owners would suffer great losses. "ship owners are afraid that the crew will strike, so most of them will still abide by the rules." Are there any cases of abuse of fishermen? "this situation is rare, just because one or two cases have been infinitely expanded." The outside world thinks that it seems that fishermen are generally abused, "but this logic is wrong."

(left) Director of Fisheries Huang Hongyan (middle) Chen Jizhong, Vice Chairman of the Council of Agriculture (right) Wang Maocheng, Deputy head of Ocean Fisheries Section, Fisheries Department (Photo / Liu Yixin)

AFD: conduct intermediary evaluation, undesirable intermediaries will adjudicate

According to the measures for the permit and Administration of employing non-Chinese Seafarers abroad implemented on January 20 last year, the monthly salary of foreign fishermen shall not be less than US $450. the salary shall be paid directly to the crew to avoid withholding compensation or deposit fees; death insurance shall not be less than 1 million yuan; the minimum rest time shall be 10 hours a day and 84 hours a week.

As for the intermediary system, under the intermediary licensing system, foreign fishermen can only be employed on the whitelist of the Fisheries Department; the intermediary margin system ranges from NT $1.5 million to NT $2 million; and the intermediary evaluation mechanism has been implemented. those with poor evaluation may be ordered to suspend business.

With regard to the intermediary evaluation, Wang Maocheng further pointed out that the evaluation will be conducted this year to let the intermediary know which key points should be paid attention to and make corresponding improvements, which will actually be included in the evaluation next year, and the Fisheries Department will adjudicate against undesirable intermediaries.

However, the evaluation is aimed at the whitelist of AFD intermediaries, so how can illegal intermediaries who are not on the list be prevented? Huang Hongyan said that if he is not on the list, he cannot do intermediary business, and even if there are illegal intermediaries, many shipping companies do not dare to hire these fishermen, because if they cannot be registered, fishing boat companies will not be able to operate.

Wang Maocheng explained that the employment of foreign fishermen abroad must be reported to the competent authority within 15 days, and if the commissioner of a foreign port visits and finds that a group of crew members are not in the approval materials, a penalty will be imposed.

It is questioned by the people that it is difficult to tell the truth by openly visiting fishermen.

In order to strengthen its ability to visit and inspect ports at home and abroad, the Fisheries Department also hired eight more foreign fishermen to visit and six more fisheries commissioners stationed abroad in June this year. Wang Maocheng further explained that there are now 17 fish unloading inspectors who can inspect and unload fish at the port while conducting deckhands' visits, mainly abroad, and some fishing boats happen to enter the country and will also visit and check.

However, the way of the visit is that the interviewer goes to the ship to do a questionnaire to the fisherman. Chiu Chiu-chi, director of the Taiwan Ocean Project of the British Environmental Justice Foundation, questions that there is no enclosed space, and the ship owner may be nearby, and the fisherman will not be able to answer the actual situation. Fishermen must make sure that they will not be reported and that they can only talk about problems in a reassuring environment. "at the beginning of our interview, many fishermen also said that there was nothing wrong with their work, but after 10 or 20 minutes, they slowly pointed out a lot of problems." On the other hand, Wang Maocheng said that these visiting skills will be improved, so that the fishermen can speak out the actual situation without scruples.

Are foreign fishermen included in the Labor Law? Chen Jizhong: internal research and development

As to whether foreign fishermen from abroad can be included in the labor-based law, Huang said that this is the long-term way to go in the future, and they will want to go in that direction, but they must first keep up with the system and communicate well with the industry. Huang Geng shouted that he hopes to make the salary of foreign fishermen reach US $610 a month in the future. Chen Jizhong points out that the inclusion of foreign fishermen in the Labor Law, compliance with the International Convention on Fisheries work (ILO188), or separate laws are currently being studied internally and will be completed and announced to the public as soon as possible.

Chiu Ching-chi says that Chen Jizhong, vice chairman of the Council of Agriculture, has discussed with civic groups and intends to cooperate more actively with these groups. "this is a good start, but I hope that the information can be fully disclosed and the policy can be implemented in practice."

Put an end to the abuse of foreign fishermen! NGO has formed the Human Rights Alliance of Foreign fishermen and called for the abolition of overseas employment.

The illegal trafficking of fishermen and the absconding of Juyang shareholders back to Taiwan are still on the list of excellent intermediaries in our country. AFD: inspection and investigation is not illegal

The British EJF Foundation has released a global film accusing Taiwan of human rights exploitation of fisheries and serious need for improvement in longline fishing.

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