Taiwan offers foreign fishermen more jobs, vows to ‘systematically improve’ migrant worker rights

Taiwan has the world’s second-largest distant-water fishing fleet and is one of the world’s largest seafood exporters, with over 35,000 migrant workers employed on 1,110 ships as of 2020. Photo: AFP

  • In November, Taiwan expanded rules to allow fishing vessel owners to train foreign workers as ‘first-level engineers and ‘second-level’ shipmates
  • Taiwan’s fishing industry, though, has been hit by accusations of mistreatment of crew and labour rights concerns

    • fish markert

Taiwan hopes efforts to “systematically improve the labour rights of migrants” will help address a shortage of workers in its US$2 billion fishing industry as part of efforts to offset a shrinking domestic labour pool caused by a falling birth rate. Officials said last year that Taiwan is aiming to bring in 400,000 foreign workers by 2030, with government agencies relaxing residency rules for white-collar jobs while also offering help to foreign-owned businesses. In November, the government’s Fisheries Agency expanded its rules to allow vessel owners to train foreign workers as “first-level” engineers and “second-level” shipmates.

Resources