Eating fish at whose expense?

Here is Dodik's story:

Fish is a part of the Taiwan staple diet. It is eaten regularly and is always a part of the sumptuous meal at any banquet, either steamed or fried. All kinds of fish can be bought at a very cheap price at fish markets, local markets and supermarkets. Who catches the fish that is sold in truck loads at our markets all over Taiwan?

There are over 20,000 migrant fishermen working on Taiwan-owned offshore long-haul fishing vessels in international waters and nearly 10,000 land-based migrant fishermen working in Taiwan.

Eating fisth - at whose expense
On one of my weekly visits to the detention centre in Hsinchu City I met Dodik Utomo, a young Indonesian fisherman. I was shocked and horrified when he shared with me his traumatic experience of labour trafficking and forced labour on a Taiwan-owned long-haul fishing vessel.

Like most of the Indonesian workers in the detention centre, Dodik Utomo is not able to speak Chinese so he gave me permission to ask one of the Indonesian workers who speaks Chinese to be my translator.

Dodik comes from a very poor family in Java, Indonesia. After finishing primary school he began working with his father on a friend’s fishing boat to help support his family. Two years ago he decided to try his luck working as a migrant fisherman. He applied for a job as a fisherman at an Indonesian recruitment agency in Jakarta. The agency informed him he would earn $170 per month and would work for three years.

After signing his contract and obtaining his visa and passport he flew to Hong Kong. An agent met him at the airport and took him by ferry to the “floating hotel” outside the Hong Kong harbour where hundreds of migrant fishermen were housed waiting to be employed on fishing vessels.

After waiting patiently for a couple of months on the “floating hotel” Dodik thought his luck had changed when he was employed to work on a Taiwan-owned long-haul fishing vessel. He quickly packed the few belongings he had and boarded the vessel. Little did he know of the horror that was awaiting him.

With the look of despair in his eyes Dodik shared with me how he worked 18 hours a day throwing out the nets, hauling in the catch, cleaning and storing the fish below deck. No matter what the weather conditions were like he was forced to work every day. Often the huge waves came crashing over the boat and he feared for his life. The vessel travelled to Singapore, Japan and Hawaii and even as far as Argentina and South Africa.


Dodik Utomo had been slaving away for 18 months when finally the vessel docked in Kaoshiong, the southern port of Taiwan. He waited in anxious anticipation to receive his salary of $3,060 for his 18 months’ work. Until that point he had not received any salary. To his utter shock and disbelief his Taiwan captain only gave him $700. When he asked his captain where was the other $2,360 he was told it was given to his Taiwan agent for his fee.

He complained furiously to his captain and agent to no avail. Because of his filial commitment to his struggling family he sent most of his salary home to his parents and kept a few dollars for his own use.

Utterly devastated and not knowing who to turn to for help, Dodik Utomo decided to jump ship and become an undocumented migrant worker in Taiwan.

Like many undocumented Indonesian fishermen he fled to the mountains of central Taiwan to pick fruit for a couple of months, receiving a meagre $1.70 per hour and working 12 hours a day as a day labourer. When the fruit picking season was over he travelled to the lower plains of Taiwan to search for a job in a factory.

For a couple of months he was unemployed living with other undocumented migrant workers in a rented apartment keeping well clear of the police. Finally he managed to secure a job in a factory.

However his job was short lived when the police raided the factory and arrested him. Once again his life came crashing down. The little he had saved after several months of arduous labour was just enough to pay his $330 penalty to the Taiwan Immigration Police for violating the immigration law by being undocumented and to pay for his plane ticket home to Indonesia.

Listening to Dodik Utomo, and the many other Indonesian fishermen I have met at the detention centre, angers me immensely. I have discussed many of these human trafficking cases with Taiwan authorities and they keep saying it is too difficult to prosecute the cases without any evidence. The evidence is in the fishermen’s story.

The trafficking of migrant fishermen working on Taiwan-owned vessels has been endemic for many years and the Taiwan government continues to turn a blind eye to this modern day slavery.

Taiwan wants to desperately re-enter the United Nations (UN) and the ILO (International Labour Organisation) but it has not signed any of the UN and ILO Conventions with regards to the protection of fishermen and seafarers. It has yet to sign and ratify the 1982 UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), the 2007 ILO Work in Fishing Convention (No.188) and the 2006 ILO Maritime Labour Convention.

While Taiwan authorities continue to shirk their responsibilities in combatting labour trafficking and forced labour on Taiwan-owned long-haul fishing vessels, we will continue to have the luxury of buying cheap fish in Taiwan and sit down to a sumptuous platter of fish this Lunar New Year. And at what expense? At the expense of the human rights of migrant fishermen.

In the meanwhile Dodik Utomo awaits his flight back to Indonesia with no money after working for more than two years as an exploited migrant fisherman, fruit picker and factory worker.

Fr Peter O'Neill SSC is a Columban missionary priest who first went to Taiwan in 1991.

Read more from The Far East, September 2014