Control Yuan investigates the case of Fuh Sheng No. 11 violating fishermen's labor rights; 4 agencies derelict in duty
Last year, the Kaohsiung-registered fishing vessel "Fuh Sheng No. 11" was detained in South Africa over fishermen's rights issues, becoming the world's first fishing vessel to be detained for violating the 2007 International Convention on Work in Fishing, severely damaging Taiwan's international image. The Control Yuan initiated an investigation on its own. Control Yuan members Wang Mei-yu and Wang Yu-ling released the investigation report on the 9th, issuing corrections to the Council of Agriculture, the Fisheries Agency, the Kaohsiung City Government Marine Bureau, and the Labor Affairs Bureau, demanding disciplinary action against 3 negligent personnel, and referring Captain Huang to prosecutors on suspicion of the crime of causing a public official to make false entries in official documents. The Fisheries Agency stated it respects the Control Yuan's investigation findings and will further study the report before responding.
ILO exposes poor labor conditions on Taiwan-registered fishing vessels; Control Yuan members believeFisheries Agency was slow to respond and derelict in duty
On July 17 last year, the International Labour Organization (ILO) disclosed that Taiwan-registered fishing vessels violated the "Work in Fishing Convention," with problems including aging onboard facilities, insufficient food, and extremely poor safety and sanitation conditions. The Fisheries Agency issued a press release the next day refuting the allegations, causing an international uproar. The Fisheries Agency did not return to Indonesia to restart the investigation until after the vessel returned to port in September, and held a press conference in November announcing heavy penalties against the vessel owner under the "Regulations Governing the Permission and Management of Overseas Employment of Non-ROC National Crew Members."
However, according to the Control Yuan members' investigation, the Fisheries Agency had actually known as early as May that the vessel was being detained and that the fishermen were suspected of being treated unreasonably. The Control Yuan members questioned why the Fisheries Agency still issued a rebuttal on July 18 - were 2 months not enough to clarify the truth?
Cross-agency communication failure Fishermen's rights neglected
The Control Yuan members' report pointed out that in May last year, the Fisheries Agency's specialist stationed in Cape Town received the information and boarded the vessel to conduct a questionnaire survey. Due to language limitations, the specialist did not seek outside assistance or carry out a thorough investigation, delaying the subsequent process of the Fisheries Agency's handling of the fishermen and the fishing vessel. However, from the limited questionnaire data - such as monthly wages below 450 US dollars and unclean drinking water - it was already sufficient to show that the fishermen's rights were being harmed, yet the Fisheries Agency failed to handle it in a timely manner.
At the end of July, the Fisheries Agency requested Fuh Sheng No. 11 to return to port, but did not continuously track the whereabouts of the vessel and fishermen, and ignored the fact that Fuh Sheng No. 11 had turned off its fishing vessel signal. At that time, the fishermen were completely replaced in Mauritius, and some fishermen were required to sign "voluntary resignation letters" to return home; moreover, the captain was replaced during the voyage from Mauritius back to Taiwan, and the Fisheries Agency was completely unaware. The Control Yuan members believed that the director and deputy director of the Distant Water Fisheries Division were negligent in their duties.
After the vessel returned to port in September, although the Kaohsiung Harbor Bureau was aware of the captain replacement, it did not actively provide the information to the Fisheries Agency, and how many crew members were actually on the fishing vessel? The figures held by the Fisheries Agency and the Kaohsiung City Marine Bureau were also different.
In addition, the Kaohsiung City Labor Affairs Bureau, which is in charge of foreign fishermen employment matters, also failed to actively supervise in accordance with the law. When the vessel returned to Taiwan, it mistakenly believed that ROC crew members should be governed first by the Seafarers Act rather than the Labor Standards Act, and therefore determined during the labor inspection carried out on September 13 that there was no violation. Only during a second labor inspection on November 28 did it penalize the vessel owner 40,000 yuan under the Labor Standards Act and publish the name.
"If your protection of human rights is such that one ministry handles one segment, and then there are so many administrative walls between the various ministries, with no integration and no cooperation, then what is the point of sending so many people to overseas offices?" said Control Yuan member Wang Mei-yu. The Cape Town office has personnel from different agencies including the Ministry of Transportation and Communications, the Fisheries Agency, and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Regarding the fishing vessel undergoing a safety inspection by the South African Maritime Safety Authority, the response was too slow. For example, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs should have assisted the Fisheries Agency with translation resources to grasp the fishermen's living conditions early. Although the Fisheries Agency later knew of the matter, it did not actively handle it. The handling mechanism within the Fisheries Agency and across agencies needs improvement.
Control Yuan members demand attention to fishermen's labor rights Fisheries Agency says a system is already in place
Regarding matters concerning the rights of foreign fishermen, the Control Yuan members believed that the current pre-employment education for fishermen is insufficient. Which types of fish may be caught, onboard safety training, and statutory rights should all be clearly communicated to fishermen and vessel owners. "Human lives cannot be treated like trash," said Wang Mei-yu, adding that a complete handling mechanism should be established to prevent similar cases from happening again.
Deputy Director-General of the Fisheries Agency Wang Kuo-ping responded that he "fully respects" the content of the Control Yuan members' investigation, but has not yet read the complete investigation report and needs to study it further. On the issue of fishermen's rights, domestic employment falls under the authority of the Ministry of Labor, while overseas employment will be regulated under the "Distant Water Fisheries Act." A management system has already been established and will continue to be promoted. At a seminar on fishermen's rights held last week by the European Commission's Directorate-General for Employment, French and Dutch scholars also affirmed Taiwan's efforts. After all, distant water fishing vessels are far from land-based management authorities, and for other countries, management is also very difficult. The Fisheries Agency has tried its best to manage through the evaluation system and penalties for vessel owners, fishermen, and intermediary companies.