Indonesian fishermen accuse Taiwanese fishing boats of abusing for fun, exploiting marine resources and beheading pseudo orcas as trophies. Fisheries Department: will step up investigation

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Although Taiwan's offshore fishing industry was lifted the yellow card warning by the European Union last year, the problem of illegal fishing and deckhands has not been completely improved. The Environmental Justice Foundation (EJF) spent a year interviewing 71 Indonesian fishermen who had come to work in Taiwan and found that illegal fishing and exploitation of fishermen still existed. One of the fishermen interviewed, Supri, was even electrocuted by the shipowner and locked in the freezer for no reason. "I was very scared when I was locked up in the freezer," Supri said. "I was afraid that I would die and my wife and children would be left unattended."

EJF, Greenpeace, the Ilan County fishermen Professional Union, the Ilan County fishermen Professional Union, and the Taiwan Association for the Promotion of Human Rights jointly said that Taiwan's ocean-going fishing vessels lack an effective supervision and management mechanism, and the Ministry of Labor and the Fisheries Department have been confused over the years, so they should abolish the overseas employment system as soon as possible, and speed up the implementation of the "Convention on fishing work" to give complete protection to fishermen.

EJF interviewed Indonesian fishermen and found fin-cutting and abandoning their lives and beheading pseudo orcas, and the fishermen were in a very poor situation.

The Environmental Justice Foundation (EJF) interviewed 71 Indonesian fishermen in Indonesia between August 2018 and November 2019, with a total of 62 fishing vessels, of which 59 were Taiwanese, and the remaining 3 foreign fishing vessels (expedient vessels) invested by Taiwanese, registered as Vanuatu, the Marshall Islands and the United States. The survey results show that Taiwan fishing vessels still have illegal fishing and human rights violations.

With regard to illegal fishing, Qiu Yingqi, senior project director of EJF Taiwan Ocean, said that these Indonesian fishermen had worked on Taiwan fishing boats in the year before the interview. 50% of the 62 fishing boats investigated had finning and abandoning behavior of sharks and specific fish species, and 13% deliberately caught and killed dolphins, because dolphins were solid and bloody, and 11% of them were beheaded pseudoorcas. Just to take his teeth as a souvenir.

In response to human rights violations of fishermen, Qiu said that 92 per cent of the fishermen interviewed had their wages withheld under the name of deposit, ranging from US $600 to US $1200 per person, and 82 per cent of them worked overtime. Working hours are sometimes as long as 18 to 20 hours, 24% of fishermen have been kicked and other abuse, 34% have been abused by swearing, and 18% of wages are lower than the current legal minimum wage of $450 a month.

"We are also human beings." The captain said it was a joke when the fisherman was electrocuted.

Supri, 29, testified to the video of the EJF investigation that he had been locked in the freezer where the bait was stored by the captain for no reason. "I kept yelling: 'captain! Captain!' He begged him to open the door, but the captain did not open it. I was so scared that I was going to die. If I die, who will take care of my wife and children? "

Supri in the film still looks scared when he talks about this recollection. During the same voyage, the captain even asked another fisherman on the same ship to shock Supri with a fish gun. "after being electrocuted, I felt very weak and aching all over my body. I asked the captain why he did it. The captain said it was just a joke." Supri's wife said solemnly in the film: "speech and physical violence can bring harm, they must understand that we are also human."

Steve Trent, CEO of the Environmental Justice Foundation, said: "our investigation reveals the seriousness of human rights exploitation and illegal fishing in Taiwan's ocean-going fishing vessels. With the rapid decline of fishery resources, the exploitation of fishermen and marine resources will become more rampant. The result of price-cutting competition is to make our ocean more dangerous. Taiwan has implemented many important laws and regulations to prevent exploitation, but only implementation is really useful. At present, the biggest problem in Taiwan is the lack of inspection and the lack of a trusted fishing monitoring mechanism. "

Greenpeace: the number of observers on ocean-going fishing vessels is less than 10%.

Chen Shiyu, director of the Greenpeace offshore fisheries project, said that although the Fisheries Department has introduced three laws on offshore fishing, it is still unable to effectively eliminate illegal fishing.

Chen Chih-Yu believes that Taiwan's fishing industry lacks a strict regulatory mechanism, while Taiwan's longline tuna vessels have only about 10% coverage, and most fishing vessels operate on the high seas without supervision. Chen pointed out that according to the statistics of the United Nations, 1/3 of the world's fishing vessels are domiciled in Taiwan, and Taiwanese fishing vessels should play their part in the conservation of marine ecology.

Chen said that the government should increase the coverage of observers for ocean-going fishing vessels and increase the number of observers at fish unloading ports. Of the 32 fish unloading ports in the country, only seven have inspectors. "it is common in the international community to see that there is a link between illegal labor and illegal fishing. Shipowners squeeze fishermen or fish illegally in order to increase profits. China should improve the rights and interests of foreign fishermen as soon as possible so as not to receive another yellow card from the European Union."