TAIPEI — Taiwan’s lucrative fishing industry has come under fire for subjecting its migrant workforce to forced labor and other abuses, contrasting with the government’s promotion of the democratic island as a regional human rights beacon.
Taiwan operates the second largest longline fishing fleet in the world with boats spending months — and sometimes years — crossing remote oceans to supply the seafood that ends up on our supermarket shelves.
But those who work on its vessels — mostly poor migrants from the Philippines, Indonesia and Vietnam — paint a grim picture of punishing work hours, docked pay, months without family contact, regular beatings, and even death at sea….
Keep on reading: Rampant fishing industry abuses dull Taiwan’s human rights record