September 2020

[...]

This year, ILAB is adding fish from China and Taiwan for forced labor due to reports of adults forced to work in the production of fish on their DWF fleets. Although these activities may not take place within territorial waters, ILAB made these additions because the List of Goods Produced by Child Labor or Forced Labor applies to all goods produced by forced labor or child labor, including seafood harvested on the high seas. The 2020 edition of the List makes clear that fish caught outside of territorial waters will be listed by the country that has flagged that vessel.

[...]

TAIWAN – FISH – FORCED LABOR

There are reports that adults are forced to work in the production of fish on Taiwan’s distant-water fishing fleet. [...] The majority of these workers are recruited overseas, mostly from Indonesia and the Philippines, by agencies that sometimes deceive workers with false information regarding their wages and the terms of the contracts, and require the workers to pay recruitment fees and sign debt contracts. According to various sources, numerous incidents of forced labor have been reported on Taiwan-flagged fishing vessels. While on board the vessels, workers’ identity documents are often confiscated, and the crew spends months at sea without stopping at a port of call, and they are forced to work 18 to 22 hours a day with little rest. Workers face hunger and dehydration, live in degrading and unhygienic conditions, are subjected to physical violence and verbal abuse, are prevented from leaving the vessel or ending their contracts, and are frequently not paid their promised wages or have food and lodging fees illegally deducted from their wages.