(Kaohsiung, Taiwan) December 13, 2022 – FCF Co., Ltd. (FCF), American Institute in Taiwan (AIT), and Taiwan’s Fisheries Agency (TFA) co-hosted a seminar titled “Deploying Technology-Enabled Solutions to Protect Labor Rights in Taiwan’s Distant-Waters Fishing Industry” in Kaohsiung, Taiwan. The seminar focused on the use of innovative technologies to protect labor rights in distant-waters fisheries, and to develop maritime emergency response and reporting procedures. The attendees were a range of stakeholders including fishery experts, policy makers, academics, NGOs, migrant fisher organizations, fishing vessel operators, and seafood industry representatives. The aim of this seminar was for each participant to gain a deeper understanding of the newly-developed technology solutions while promoting industry collaboration in addressing labor rights issues.
Max Chou, the president of FCF, expressed that driving change isn’t easy and that the current set of industry-wide challenges are too great to take on alone. FCF was honored for the opportunity to collaborate with the AIT and the TFA to host this unique workshop, inviting experts and talent from various backgrounds to develop effective solutions. It’s important for industry participants to understand more about the emerging solutions that have the potential to drive global fisheries towards greater responsibility, accountability, and transparency.
As an integral part of the fishing industry, FCF has taken a holistic approach to addressing distant water fishery challenges. Through its cooperation with various experts, FCF aims for continuous improvements and has experienced success on its projects related to traceability, compliance, environmental protection, and social responsibility.
“Again, driving change isn’t easy. The only way we are going to transform Taiwan’s distant water fishing industry is through a concerted, unified effort. It is of the upmost importance that each participant here works closer than ever with their peers, colleagues, and friends in the field, so that we can drive the industry forward together.” Max emphasized.
Sandra Oudkirk the Director of AIT, and Lo Ping-cheng, the Minister without Portfolio & Spokesperson of Executive Yuan expressed their expectations and encouragements for cutting-edge technology to improve labor conditions in Taiwan’s fishery. “Human rights have always been at the heart of the fishery sustainability. The Taiwan government will keep providing greater protection of the rights and interests for all the foreign crew members. We are by no means satisfied with the status quo.”
AIT invited representatives from a diverse range of organizations including the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Southwest Fisheries Science Center, Stanford University, Global Fishing Watch, Aerkomm Inc., OneWeb and Pyras Technology Inc. Each representative shared their experience and relevant findings in implementing technology solutions to resolve labor rights issues in distant water fisheries.
Along with information sharing from the attending representatives, the newly-developed prototypes of the two winning technology solutions from the AIT Phase II project announced their progress during the seminar. Additionally, National Taiwan Ocean University and National Cheng Kung University each gave briefings on their electronic monitoring system (EMS) programs. Representatives from National Chung Cheng University highlighted how EMS supplements the limitations of on-site observers, and how EMS strengthens the independence and impartiality of data collection.
At the end of the seminar, Thomas Wong, the Branch Chief of AIT Kaohsiung Branch Office expressed his appreciation to all the participants for their efforts on exploring innovative tech-based solutions. ‘’AIT will continue to work with Taiwan’s fishing industry to promote varied cooperation and talents exchange.
