October 3, 2022 — Taiwan and Thailand both feature prominently on the new edition of a U.S. Department of Labor report on child and forced labor, which identifies abuses in both countries’ seafood sectors.
Released 28 September, 2022, the “List of Goods Produced by Child Labor or Forced Labor,” dinged Taiwan and Thailand for alleged use of forced labor in their fishing sectors, while Thailand also received mention for alleged use of child and forced labor in its shrimp-processing industry.
August 1, 2022 — Non-governmental organizations and fishing industry groups have had sharply differing reactions to the latest edition of the U.S. government’s Trafficking in Persons (TIP), which was published 19 July, 2022.
The latest edition of TIP, published annually the U.S. State Department, kept Taiwan at Tier One status while upgrading Thailand and Ireland to Tier Two, despite claims of labor abuse in the fishing industries of all three states. Those rankings dismayed some fisheries-focused NGOs, who said geopolitical considerations are blunting Washington’s ability to curb labor abuses in global fisheries.
April 28, 2022 — Taiwanese fishing representatives have issued a joint statement to protest the treatment they have received from non-governmental organizations including the Seafood Working Group and Greenpeace.
The Taiwan Deepsea Tuna Longline Boatowners and Exporters Association, Taiwan Squid Fishery Association, Taiwan Tuna Purse Seiners Association, Taiwan Tuna Longline Association, and Distant Fisheries Youth Association said the industry’s continuing efforts on labor are “simply ignored” by the campaign groups.
Read the full story at SeafoodSource
April 8, 2022 — The representative body for the Taiwanese tuna industry has criticized the decision by an American NGO to take a case against a Taiwan-based tuna processor instead of collaborating with government and industry on solutions.
Global Labor Justice – International Labor Rights Forum (GLJ-ILRF) filed suit against San Diego, California, U.S.A.-based Bumble Bee Seafood – a major tuna brand and subsidiary of Fong Chun Formosa Fishery Company (FCF), a Taiwan-based seafood trader and fishing company – over what GLJ ILRF said were its “false and deceptive” marketing claims made by Bumble bee that it sources its tuna through a “fair and safe supply chain.”
Read the full story at SeafoodSource
February 14, 2022 — Taiwan will soon revoke the “authorization for investment in operation of foreign-flagged fishing vessels” granted to the owner-operator of the Da Wang, a Taiwanese-owned (and Vanuatu-flagged) vessel which was the subject of a recent finding by the U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) that labor abuses took place on board.
On 18 August, 2022, the U.S. CBP, a division of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, issued a withhold release order refusing all seafood caught by the Da Wang at U.S. ports of entry. On 28 January, 2022, the CBP issued a forced labor finding against the Da Wang, citing an investigation that discovered evidence of all 11 of the International Labour Organization’s forced labor indicators on the vessel. The elevated ruling will result in all seafood affiliated with the Da Wang to be confiscated at all U.S. ports.
Read the full story at SeafoodSource
January 25, 2022 — Despite the People’s Republic of China maintaining that mainland China and Taiwan are parts of “One China” whose sovereignty cannot be divided, the world’s second-largest economy appears reluctant to entertain such perceptions when it comes to the management of fisheries for both entities.
The country’s delegation to the Indian Ocean Tuna Commission (IOTC) has disagreed with the commission’s 10,557 metric ton (MT) yellowfin tuna catch-limit for 2022, saying the figure is below the 15,339 MT it expected. The higher quota is based on catch limits being calculated separately for mainland China and Taiwan.
Read the full story at SeafoodSource
November 22, 2021 — The Taiwan Tuna Association has teamed up with the National Chung Cheng University to trial a video-monitoring system aboard its fishing vessels, aimed at stamping out labor abuses.
The TTA said it’s using a government grant to install the surveillance systems on its distant-water fishing vessels, allowing onshore monitoring and the use of blockchain to guarantee the validity of the captured data. The move comes as part of a three-year experimental project titled “Fulfilling the Protection of Human Rights at Sea and Supporting the Sustainable Development of Fisheries with Technology: Establishing Person-Centered Decent Labor Policies in Distant Water Fisheries.” The project is funded in part by Taiwan’s Ministry of Science and Technology, which plans to set up a communication platform for stakeholders “utilizing advanced technologies, such as big data and blockchain,” according to the TTA.
May 19, 2021 — Taiwan’s lucrative seafood industry is back under the gun after the country’s top government watchdog demanded corrective measures to prevent forced labor aboard fishing boats.
The Control Yuan, Taiwan’s official government ombudsman body, has issued a series of demands to three government entities due to their failure to address systemic work abuse against the predominantly Southeast Asian fishermen working on Taiwanese vessels.
The United States Department of Labor last year listed fish caught by Taiwanese vessels as products of forced labor, a label that could serve as a basis for government decisions to block imports from Taiwan’s $1.3 billion seafood industry.
Wang Yu-ling, a member of the Control Yuan, said earlier this month that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Ministry of Labor, and the Fisheries Agency had done nothing to address the issue, despite knowing the environmental organization Greenpeace planned to share findings from its own research with the U.S. government.
May 13, 2021 — Taiwan’s lucrative fishing industry has come under fire for subjecting its migrant workforce to forced labour and other abuses, contrasting with the government’s promotion of the democratic island as a regional human rights beacon.
Taiwan operates the second largest longline fishing fleet in the world with boats spending months — and sometimes years — crossing remote oceans to supply the seafood that ends up on our supermarket shelves.
But those who work on its vessels — mostly poor migrants from the Philippines, Indonesia and Vietnam — paint a grim picture of punishing work hours, docked pay, months without family contact, regular beatings, and even death at sea.
Last year the United States added fish caught by Taiwan’s deep water fleets to its list of goods produced by forced labour for the first time.
April 2, 2021 — Taiwan’s fisheries regulator has answered NGO claims of forced labor in its fishing fleet through a statement issued to SeafoodSource.
Noting the attention NGOs have brought to the abuse of foreign workers aboard Taiwanese fishing vessels, the Taiwan Fisheries Agency said in its statement it has “endeavored to improve the protection of the rights and benefits of the crew members through institutional guarantees.”