The Fuh Sheng 11, deemed ‘unseaworthy’ by South African officials continues working as usual.

Taiwanese fishing vessel involved in labour abuse operated from Uruguay

TAIWAN
Wednesday, September 19, 2018, 01:10 (GMT + 9)

Taiwan-flagged fishing vessel Fuh Sheng 11, target of several accusations on the waters off South Africa, such as labour abuse, overfishing and shark finning, operated in 2017 from Montevideo, Uruguay.

A record of the National Port Administration of Uruguay shows that the fishing vessel entered the port in Montevideo twice throughout last year, on August 14 and December 1, according to statements made by Milko Schvartzman, a Project Coordinator of the organisation Oceanosanos, to Fis.com. 

Official entry registration in Montevideo port. (Photo courtesy: Mariano Milko)

As it was reported by the Financial Times, the 27-man, mostly-Indonesian crew’s ordeal — documented in a probe by Environmental Justice Foundation(EJF) — not only suggests that labour abuse and environmental pillage still plague the global fisheries business, it also signals that an overhaul of Taiwan’s laws and closer international monitoring have failed to rein in the industry’s darker side.

While much of Taiwan’s industry by value is concentrated in the Pacific, where Taiwanese longline boats target tuna, hundreds of boats spread across waters from Fiji to the Falklands.

The vessels are manned by tens of thousands of south-east Asian workers. Government estimates put the number of migrant fishermen at 30,000 while NGOs estimate that the figure tops 100,000.

Since 2017, Taiwan has tightened efforts to curtail human rights abuses and overfishing, following years of international pressure, which the European Commission has acknowledged.

In addition, Lin Ding-rong, director of deep sea fisheries at Taiwan’s Fisheries Agency, which manages the country’s fishing practices, said that new electronic systems monitored vessels’ positions every hour and logged daily catch reports.

“I believe Taiwan’s fishing fleet is more transparent than before,” Mr Lin said. “The new regulations have done a lot to enhance and protect the right of fishing vessels’ crews.”

However, the testimonials from the Fuh Sheng No 11 crew given to EJF and complaints made to South African officials suggest a sharp divide between what authorities say and what is happening at sea.

Yang Yen-rong, proprietor of Fuh Sheng Fishery that owned the Fuh Sheng No 11, confirmed that the vessel had caught and finned sharks — stripping sharks on vessels is illegal in Taiwan — but denied allegations of physical abuse and excessive working hours, and blamed the poor hygienic conditions on the workers.

All in all, EJF urged Taiwan to review the measures in place by the Fisheries Agency to detect and counter human rights transgressions.

 
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