Taipei, March 29 (CNA) Unions and civil society and workers’ rights groups have reiterated their calls for the provision of Wi-Fi on distant water fishing vessels after a representative from the Taiwan Tuna Association argued against the practice recently.
In an interview published by industry news website Seafood Source on March 22, Tony Lin, a spokesperson for the association, said Taiwan’s fishing industry was worried about Wi-Fi creating “potential management issues and safety hazards” on distant water fishing vessels and being potentially “disruptive to onboard working conditions.”
Lin said the industry wanted to help migrant fishing crew members have peace of mind by knowing that they can take care of their families with their remittances.
But he argued that if crew members had access to the internet, they could become “excessively worried” about their home situation, which may “seriously hinder their work mood and even lead to occupational disasters or disputes.”
In a statement released Thursday in response to the interview, Jennifer Rosenbaum, executive director of Global Labor Justice-International Labor Rights Forum (GLJ-ILRF), took issue with Lin’s argument.
“The Taiwanese distant-water fishing business model should not depend on exploiting forced labor and the complete exclusion of migrant fishers,” she said.
“If Taiwan’s fishing industry really wants to improve fishers’ work mood and conditions, it would provide mandatory secure Wi-Fi internet access on all deep-sea fishing vessels so fishers can communicate with their families and with their unions to report any abuses in real -time,” she said.
The GLJ-ILRF leads the Wi-Fi Now For Fishers’ Rights Campaign, which is being supported by American, Taiwanese, and Indonesian non-governmental organizations.
The campaign has demanded that Wi-Fi be installed on all Taiwanese fishing vessels and that migrant crew members be granted access to the internet.
“Many fishers we represent have gone 11 months without pay and no way to check. The freedom of association, a fundamental right, cannot be fully realized without Wi-Fi,” said Achmad Mudzakir, chairman of the Indonesian Seafarers Gathering Forum, in a statement.
Shih Yi-hsiang (施逸翔), a senior researcher at the Taiwan Association for Human Rights, also said the Taiwan Tuna Association’s remarks underscore “why we need the Taiwanese government to act.”
He argued that the Taiwanese seafood industry will never act in the best interest of the workers “unless the major global seafood brands and the Taiwanese government demand it.”
With the European Union and the US having implemented policies against seafood harvested through forced labor, access to Wi-Fi could help reduce incidents of forced labor and in turn help Taiwan’s fishing industry sell their products through major international retailers, Shih said.
Hsueh Po-yuan (薛博元), head of the Fisheries Agency’s Fisheries Manpower Division, said the agency has provided subsidies to fishing vessels to encourage them to install Wi-Fi.
The subsidy program includes NT$600,000 per vessel to put in Wi-Fi and monthly subsidies of NT$40,000 in communication fees and NT$20,000 in subscription fees, Hsueh said.
So far, 92 vessels have installed Wi-Fi using the agency’s subsidies, and the agency hopes that it can incentivize up to 300 vessels to have Wi-Fi on board, Hsueh said.
Meanwhile, he said, Taiwanese-flagged fishing vessels have satellite phones, which can be used as an alternative to report any incident.
Tags: NGOs repeat calls WiFi Taiwans distant water fishing vessels
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