Taiwan's Fuh Sheng No. 11 is simply a hell ship! EJF Foundation investigation reveals abuse of fishing workers and illegal IUU fishing, calls on Taiwan to face the issue proactively
The Taiwan fishing vessel "Fuh Sheng No. 11" was detained in South Africa in May this year due to multiple violations. The Environmental Justice Foundation (EJF) interviewed the vessel's fishing workers last month, pointing out that there were serious human rights abuses and illegal fishing on board. Crew members complained that it was "simply a hell ship, like slavery." Some crew members also said they were required to catch various species of sharks, then "after removing the fins and tail, the entire shark was thrown back into the sea," including many endangered species such as hammerhead sharks.
The Environmental Justice Foundation stated that the violations of "Fuh Sheng No. 11" were serious; however, after an initial investigation, the Taiwan government determined that the fishing vessel had no violations and allowed it to leave Cape Town. Today (the 13th), "Fuh Sheng No. 11" sailed back to Taiwan. They went to the port to show concern and called on the Fisheries Agency to strictly enforce the law so that Taiwan can be removed from the EU's fisheries yellow card list as soon as possible.
In response, Deputy Director-General of the Fisheries Agency Lin Kuo-ping said that "Fuh Sheng No. 11" was detained at the time because the hull was tilted and the South African government was concerned about navigational safety. The Fisheries Agency has fined "Fuh Sheng No. 11" a total of 300,000 yuan for failing to apply within the deadline for the procedure to employ foreign crew members. As for whether the vessel was involved in other illegal human trafficking, poor labor conditions for fishing workers, or illegal fishing, the Fisheries Agency said the investigation is still ongoing. An employee of the vessel's company said the vessel was already sold and transferred in August, the boss is currently away, and they could not say more.
After the International Labour Organization Fishing Convention took effect, the world's first vessel detained for violations
In May this year, the Taiwan fishing vessel "Fuh Sheng No. 11" was named by the International Labour Organisation (ILO) under the United Nations and was detained in Cape Town, South Africa, for violating the International Labour Organization Fishing Convention (Convention No. 188). It was pointed out that the vessel had a poor working environment and fishing workers lacked contract protections. It was the first fishing vessel in the world to be detained for violations since Convention No. 188 took effect in November 106, attracting attention from all sectors.
Later, because the fishing vessel "Fuh Sheng No. 11" dropped anchor, some crew members were first sent back to Indonesia. In August, the Environmental Justice Foundation went to Indonesia to interview fishing workers, interviewing a total of six fishing workers who had all worked on the vessel for more than a year.
Chiu Shao-chi, Taiwan Ocean Project Director of the Environmental Justice Foundation, said that at the time, South African government inspectors listed many non-compliant facts about the fishing vessel, including no contracts and no crew list, damaged life-saving equipment, dirty and unsanitary living conditions, and one lost anchor, which caused the fishing vessel to tilt 45 degrees and prevented it from docking vertically. After the Environmental Justice Foundation intervened in the investigation, it found that the actual situation was even more serious, with serious human rights abuses and illegal fishing on board.
