TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — Campaigners met with Taiwan Premier Chen Chien-jen (陳建仁) on Tuesday (Sept. 5) for a “historic” meeting to call for Wi-Fi to be provided to fishers while working at sea.

Migrant fishers and labor advocates presented Chen with a petition in support of regulated, private, and free Wi-Fi on all Taiwanese fishing vessels. Campaingers say this will improve fishers lives, and protect their basic labor rights while working at sea.

Reports have documented forced labor on Taiwanese fishing vessels. The campaigners noted that in 2022 the U.S. government included fish from Taiwan on its list of goods that are produced by forced labor.

The meeting was an hour long and called historic by Achmad Mudzakir, chairman of the migrant lead Indonesian Seafarers Gathering Forum (FOSPI) . “This is the first time the premier spoke directly with the fishers,” Mudzakir told Taiwan News.

“He may have heard a lot about the fishers from those beneath him, but it is the first time listening to the worker themselves. It was a historic moment for us, but also for him,” he said.

Mudzakir underlined that the campaign is not designed as an attack, but to “improve the lives of migrant fishers in a billion-dollar industry and providing fishers with the welfare they deserve.”

Fellow FOSPI community leader and fisher Desi Arisonic said that Wi-Fi access onboard all vessels will solve many issues. From the basic needs of communicating with one’s family, keeping in contact with labor unions, and checking that salaries are paid properly, to solving employer-employee disputes.

“If we can communicate with the owners of the vessels, we can solve so many issues before they get worse,” Arisonic said. He said “horrific stories” from migrant fishers ranged from not having enough food or water, to facing physical abuse from ships' captains - a role almost never held by migrant workers.

“If we have Wi-Fi and the captain is abusive, we can talk to the vessel owner or the agencies on land," Arisonic said. “If we lack food, we can ask for proper supplies, or if we want enough water to shower or to drink.”

A 10-month-limit on the time Taiwanese vessels can spend at sea was implemented recently, but before that, Arisonic said voyages were often much longer. He said he had heard of sailings lasting up to 27 months without returning to land.

He said FOSPI would be contacted by families looking for loved ones, but they had limited ways to help. “Sometimes they only know the names of their family member’s vessels, or simply that they are coming to work in Taiwan,” Arisonic said.

Jonathan Parhusip is a consultant for the Wi-Fi for fishers campaign, and translated Mudzakir and Arisonic’s comments for Taiwan News. Parhusip said that Wi-Fi on fishing vessels would also give consumers confidence the industry was not engaging in illegal fishing.

While Taiwan’s Coast Guard can track all fishing vessels, tracking is only required if a ship (within certain conditions) is on an international voyage. Technically, fishing vessels are not, and Parhusip said this lack of tracking is often related to illegal fishing.

A side effect of this is that it becomes impossible for families to know where their relatives are in emergencies, let alone to keep in regular contact, he said.

Labor advocate with Global Labor Justice Valery Alzaga said while it was unfortunate meeting with the premier did not result in Wi-Fi for all fishers, the importance of the issue was understood by all parties. “We feel the meeting was a really good first step, the premier is taking it really seriously,” Alzaga said.

She said that the change to require all vessels to install wireless internet could be legislative or administrative, and the campaign is open to both. “I think for us, accelerating the process is what we are all looking for,”.

“Without Wi-Fi, no one knows what’s happening, there are fishers out there for 10 months or a year with no contact with anyone, and that is when labor abuses can happen, and mental health is at peril,” she said.