TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — Legislators are calling on Taiwan’s Fisheries Agency to ensure the rights of a group of 10 migrant fishers are protected after they returned to Taiwan following months at sea and were owed US$80,850 (NT$2.64 million) in unpaid wages.

The migrant workers held a press conference at the Legislative Yuan on Wednesday (Aug. 7) and said a letter had been sent to the Fisheries Agency demanding their wages be paid, and the employer punished for violating their rights. The fishers worked on a Taiwan-owned vessel named Yu Fu (銪富) and said they had not been paid for work done over 11 to 15 months.

One of the fishers spoke using the pseudonym “Herman,” and said he left his home to work in Taiwan to support his family, but after working for 15 months he is now in debt. Herman said the fishers’ contracts stated they would be paid when they returned to port, but this did not happen. 

Another fisher, Masduki Priyono, said because there was no Wi-Fi on the Yu Fu, he only found out his family had not received his wages when he returned to port on July 15.

The Taiwan Association for Human Rights (TAHR) is one of the groups assisting the fishermen with claims. TAHR Researcher Shih Yi-hsiang (施逸翔) told Taiwan News he attended a meeting between the fishers and the Fisheries Agency after the press conference on Wednesday.

The Fisheries Agency said during the meeting that the employer has been ordered to pay the wages by Friday (Aug. 9). Shih said one of the fishers has returned to their home country, and it remains unclear if they will be paid on Friday.

At the press conference, the fishers presented statements provided by three legislators who said the case highlights the exploitation migrant fishers on Taiwan vessels face. Legislators Puma Shen (沈伯洋), Hung Sun-han (洪申翰), and Lin Shu-fen (林淑芬) sent statements demanding the fishers be paid the wages they are owed, and called for reforms in the fishing industry.

Shen said the case Yu Fu shows fishers on Taiwan vessels cannot communicate with those on land while at sea, and do not have an effective way to lodge complaints. He said the Fisheries Agency should ensure that all crew members working on Taiwan’s offshore fishing vessels are guaranteed access to Wi-Fi to remedy this.

NGOs and migrant fishers have repeatedly called on the Fisheries Agency to make Wi-Fi a requirement on all fishing vessels after multiple complaints about conditions at sea from migrant fishers.

In April, the Fisheries Agency said 116 fishing vessels in Taiwan's fleet are equipped with Wi-Fi, and on 92 of those, the service is made available to the crew. There are more than 2,000 distant water fishing vessels in Taiwan's fleet, according to the agency’s estimates.

Shen added the Fisheries Agency should strengthen inspections of vessels that fish on the high seas. He said this should extend to overseas ports where Taiwan vessels are authorized to dock.

He said Taiwan is a country built on respect for human rights, and it should not condone violations of those rights in the fishing industry. He noted that an updated version of the Fisheries Agency’s “Action Plan for Fisheries and Human Rights” was passed in July 2023, and called on the government to implement its recommendations.