Taiwan's Fukui 11 is a hell ship! The EJF Foundation investigated the abuse of fishermen to catch IUU illegally, calling on Taiwan to face it positively.

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The Taiwanese fishing boat "Fuku 11" was detained in South Africa in May this year because it involved a number of violations. The Environmental Justice Foundation (Environmental Justice Foundation, EJF) interviewed the deckhands of the boat last month, pointing out that there was serious human rights exploitation and illegal fishing on board, and the crew complained that "it is a hell ship, like a slave." Some crew members said they were asked to "throw the whole shark back into the sea after removing its fins and tail," including many endangered species such as hammerhead sharks.

The Environmental Justice Foundation said that the Fukui 11 broke the law seriously, but after the first investigation, the Taiwan government determined that the fishing boat had not violated the rules and was allowed to leave Cape Town. Today (13) the "Fukui 11" sailed back to Taiwan, and they went to the port to show concern and called on the Fisheries Department to strictly enforce the law so that Taiwan could be removed from the EU fishing yellow card as soon as possible.

In response, Lin Guoping, Deputy Director of Fisheries, responded that the Fukui 11 was detained because the hull of the ship tilted and the South African government considered that there were concerns about navigation safety. The Fisheries Department has imposed a total fine of 300000 yuan for failing to apply for the employment of foreign crew members within the time limit. As to whether the vessel was involved in other illegal human trafficking, poor working conditions of deckhands, illegal fishing, and so on, the Fisheries Department said that it was still under investigation. The employees of the shipping company said that the ship had been sold and changed hands in August, and the boss was not here at present, so it was inconvenient to say more.

After the entry into force of the International Labour Organization fishing Convention, the world's first vessel was detained for violation.

In May this year, Taiwan's fishing boat "Fuyi 11" was named by the International Labour Organization (International Labour Organisation) of the United Nations (ILO) and was detained in Cape Town, South Africa, for violating the International Labor Organization fishing Convention (Convention C188). It was pointed out that the ship's poor working conditions and the lack of contractual protection for deckhands were the first fishing vessel in the world to be detained for violation of regulations since the entry into force of Convention C188 in November 106, which attracted attention from all walks of life.

After the fishing boat broke down, the "Fuyi 11" first sent some of its crew back to Indonesia. In August, the Environmental Justice Foundation went to Indonesia to interview deckhands and interviewed six deckhands who had been working on the fishing boat for more than a year.

Qiu Yingqi, director of the Taiwan Ocean Project of the Environmental Justice Foundation, said that at that time, inspectors of the South African government listed many irregularities of the fishing boat, including the lack of contracts and crew lists, damage to life-saving supplies, and the dirty and unclean living environment. And the loss of an anchor, causing the fishing boat to tilt 45 degrees and could not be docked vertically. After the Environmental Justice Foundation intervened in the investigation, it was found that the actual situation was actually more serious, with serious human rights exploitation and illegal fishing on board.

"Fortune 11" returns to Hong Kong today (Photo courtesy of / EJF Foundation)

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