A review of migrant labour rights protection in distant water fishing in Taiwan: From laissez-faire to regulation and challenges behind

Yen, Kuo-Wei; Liuhuang, Li-Chuan

doi:10.1016/j.marpol.2021.104805

Cited by 15 publications

(5 citation statements)

References 11 publications

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“…( 45 ), the mean voyage of vessels that fish more than 50 nautical miles from shore is under 1 month. This contrasts starkly with globalized squid vessels, which often take several weeks to even reach fishing grounds ( 46 ). In addition, while only 1% of vessels operated in all four regions within a single year, 52% operated in two or more regions annually (Table 2).…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 95%

“…( 77 ) suggest that vessels at high risk of labor abuses tend to fish far from ports and have a high number of voyages per year. Yen and Liuhuang ( 46 ) also suggest that long working hours associated with some fisheries are a primary indicator of forced labor. Many of the fishing practices identified in this study strongly resemble these “at risk” fisheries, and McDonald et al.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Fishing through the cracks: The unregulated nature of global squid fisheries

et al. 2023

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While most research has focused on the legality of global industrial fishing, unregulated fishing has largely escaped scrutiny. Here, we evaluate the unregulated nature of global squid fisheries using AIS data and nighttime imagery of the globalized fleet of light-luring squid vessels. We find that this fishery is extensive, fishing 149,000 to 251,000 vessel days annually, and that effort increased 68% over the study period 2017–2020. Most vessels are highly mobile and fish in multiple regions, largely (86%) in unregulated areas. While scientists and policymakers express concerns over the declining abundance of squid stocks globally and regionally, we find a net increase in vessels fishing squid globally and spatial expansion of effort to novel areas. Since fishing effort is static in areas with increasing management, and rising in unmanaged areas, we suggest actors may take advantage of fragmented regulations to maximize resource extraction. Our findings highlight a profitable, but largely unregulated fishery, with strong potential for improved management.

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Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 95%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Fishing through the cracks: The unregulated nature of global squid fisheries

et al. 2023

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“…In response to various external and internal pressures, the Taiwanese state recently revamped existing labor policies to improve Vietnamese migrant fish workers' labor conditions (Le 2021b, Yen & Liuhuang, 2021. Indeed, the participants in my study acknowledged that their work conditions had improved.…”

Section: Migrants' Shifting Attitudes Toward Work Conditionsmentioning

confidence: 93%

The homeland and the high seas: cross-border connections between Vietnamese migrant fish workers’ home villages and industrial fisheries

2022

Maritime Studies

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Heeding the call to examine industrial fisheries with a migratory lens, this article explores how homeland processes in Vietnam-linked to the 2016 chemical spill-affect migrant fish workers' work on the high seas. Drawing on ethnographic fieldwork and interviews in Vietnam and Taiwan, my paper relays two findings. First, the disaster's negative consequences undermined many men and women's ability to adequately contribute to household subsistence. Second, the inability to sustain livelihoods in Vietnam compelled migrant fish workers to exchange longer, and potentially more hazardous, workdays for additional wages and wage advances. These findings illustrate the benefits of studying industrial fisheries with a transnational prospective and can be applied to other contexts, such as the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.

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“…Moreover, in 2021, Taiwan's DWF enterprises employed 18,807 foreign workers, of which 11,790 (62.7%) from Indonesia, 5,302 (28.2%) from the Philippines, and 1,250 (6.65%) from Vietnam are the top three exporting countries for migrant fishermen in Taiwan, far exceeding the number of domestic workers of distant water fishermen. The number of fishermen from these three countries exceeds 90% of the foreign workers (Scalabrini Migration Center, 2020;Aspinwall, 2021;Yen and Liuhuang, 2021) (Table 1).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The Work in Fishing Convention (C188) has become an essential international convention signed by many countries and gradually influenced the importing countries (such as Taiwan) and exporting countries (such as Indonesia, the Philippines, Vietnam) of fishermen as the basis for the amendment of laws and regulations related to DWF and fishermen (International Labour Organization, 2007;Simmons & Stringer, 2014;Zhou et al, 2019;Vandergeest & Marschke, 2021;Yen and Liuhuang, 2021). Although C188 enhances the system of fishermen's working and human rights, it is somehow unclear in employment agencies, and this is why the focus on fishermen's rights has gradually turned to agencies in recent years.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Promoting human rights for Taiwan’s fishermen: Collaboration with the primary source countries of Taiwan’s DWF migrant fishermen

et al. 2022

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Taiwan is one of the largest distant water fishing (DWF) nations worldwide, and relies largely on the migrant labor to keep costs low. However, this industry has caused Taiwan to be listed in the 2020 “List of Goods Produced by Child Labor or Forced Labor” of the U.S. Department of Labor. In view of this, the Taiwanese government is actively adopting further management measures to supervise the domestic and foreign fishermen agencies. It is because the latter has been involved in many disputes, especially in recruitment, payroll, and labor contracts, which directly or indirectly affect the rights of migrant fishermen. On the other hand, although the C188 Work in Fishing Convention has stregthend the protection of the fishermen’s human rights, it still stays ambiguous in terms of private agency management. That is also why so many disputes have been caused in recent years.This study conducts a comparative analysis of the agency management systems in the primary source countries of Taiwan’s distant water fishing migrant fishermen (that is, Indonesia, the Philippines, and Vietnam), as well as interviews with distant water fishing stakeholders to provide insights on the improvement of agency management and migrant fishermen’s rights in Taiwan. The findings imply that the positive interaction, mutual trust, and understanding of laws and regulations between fishermen’s exporting and importing countries lead to future cross-national collaboration. This study suggests that the Taiwanese government should follow the spirit of the C188 but not be restricted to the Convention texts to amend or formulate regulations and policies of agencies for fully protecting the rights of migrant fishermen.

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A review of migrant labour rights protection in distant water fishing in Taiwan: From laissez-faire to regulation and challenges behind

Cited by 15 publications

References 11 publications

Fishing through the cracks: The unregulated nature of global squid fisheries

Fishing through the cracks: The unregulated nature of global squid fisheries

The homeland and the high seas: cross-border connections between Vietnamese migrant fish workers’ home villages and industrial fisheries

Promoting human rights for Taiwan’s fishermen: Collaboration with the primary source countries of Taiwan’s DWF migrant fishermen

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