Taiwan possesses one of the most impressive offshore fishing vessel fleets in the world. The country’s fishing industry also has a staggeringly large number of marine catches and employs a diverse group of international foreign fishermen. However, the industry has long been accused of ongoing forced labour, exploitation and illegal catching which prompted the European Union, the U.S. government, and international human rights and environmental organizations to closely monitor the situation for years. Apart from the amended three Fisheries-related acts and increased penalties against illegal activities conducted by the flag of convenience (FOC) ships, we are left to wonder what more needs to be done to solve the ongoing problems?

With such concerns, this forum brings the following panels to explore the issue from different angles —（1）Investigation Report by The Reporter: Falsification, Exploitation and Insufficient Governance;（2）We are on the front line of the fishing port: sharing experiences of foreign fishermen；（3）From the Perspective of Laws: Future Policies on Migrant Fishers and Marine Live of Taiwan Fishing Industries.

This forum aims to inquire about the challenges in protecting foreign fishermen's rights within the offshore fishing industry. As such, we invite The Reporter team who produced investigation reporting on the offshore fishing ground across 5 years of following and observation, the representative from The Presbyterian Church in Taiwan Seamen’s / Fishermen’s Service Center (PCTSFSC) and Stella Maris Kaohsiung, and international laws scholar Prof. Lee Meng-Bing and labour laws scholar Assoc. Prof. Lin Liang-Jung, to deliberate the following questions: 

1. Why human trafficking, forced labour, maltreatment and fishermen deaths has been constant aboard offshore fishing vessels?
2. Does exceptionality of the offshore fishing ground or dysfunctionality of law contribute to the illegal activities on the offshore fishing ground?
3. Who should shoulder the responsibility of protecting foreign fishermen on the offshore fishing vessels and restricting IUU (Illegal, Unreported and Unregulated) activities? How national and international laws and regulations can work within this context?
4. What legal loopholes enable the constant abuse of foreign fishermen who work at the flag of convenience (FOC) ship? 
5. Does the exceptionality of law at the sea contribute to the dysfunctionality of offshore fishermen protection law?
6. How to co-reflect the flaws within Taiwan’s labour laws and marine conservation laws.

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主辦單位

國立陽明交通大學文化研究國際中心、國立陽明交通大學科技法律學院

協辦單位

全球人文研究中心及機構聯盟- 2021年全球人文研究機構（CHCI-GHI）“當前全球脈絡下的移動、物流部署與不平等公民”

擁有世界屬一屬二遠洋漁船的台灣，有著人數和國籍多元的外籍漁工、有著驚人捕撈量，但為何「血汗海鮮」、「血汗勞動」之名無法去除？為何台灣陸續被歐盟、美國政府、國際人權與環境組織緊盯？ 遠洋三法的修訂、權宜船違法的罰責提高，究竟（未）解決哪些問題？

本次工作坊依據上述提問展開，並邀請針對海上魚場進行五年追蹤觀察，完成調查報告三部曲的《報導者》團隊；台灣基督長老教會海員漁民服務中心及財團法人天主教社會慈善福利基金會附設海星海員中心代表；以及國際法學者李孟玢副教授與勞動法者學林良榮副教授一起進行討論。

這些受邀講者將依據他們的專長與經驗進行三組的呈現場次：（1）《報導者》的調查報告：造假、剝削、未境的治理；（2）非政府組織服務經驗分享：關懷漁工的前線；（3）法律界的分析：台灣遠洋漁業外籍漁工和海洋生命保育政策的未來。他們也將依據以下重要議題進行分享與討論：

• 為何在遠洋漁船上，頻繁出現人口販賣、強迫勞動、暴力虐待甚至漁工喪命的事故？

• 海上魚場所發生的各種違法行為，是因為海洋是法律的例外之域，或是法律完全失靈？

• 誰應該肩負起保護遠洋勞動外籍漁工以及限制遠洋漁業違規非法漁撈的責任?國家和國際法規如何可以發揮作用？

• 那些在「權宜船」工作的漁工，是在什麼樣的法律漏洞之下持續存在，又如何遭受重重剝削呢？

• 遠洋漁工是否身處海上例外法域、讓保障勞權的法律失靈？

• 如何共同反思台灣勞權政策與海洋生命保育問題？

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