The minimum monthly wage of migrant fishermen working on Taiwan’s distant-water fishing (DWF) fleets will be increased by US$100 (NT$2,919) with effect from July, the government said Thursday.
The minimum wage hike was approved Thursday by the Cabinet as part of a broader action plan to improve working conditions for migrant fishermen on Taiwan’s DWF fleets, the Council of Agriculture (COA) said.
The plan will take effect in July, raising the monthly minimum pay for that category of migrant fishermen from US$450 to US$550, the COA said, adding that there are some 21,000 migrant workers on Taiwan DWF vessels.
The salaries must be paid directly to the fishermen instead of through an employment agency, and the workers will have the right to contact the COA if their employers fail to adhere to that regulation, according to Chang Chih-sheng, head of the COA’s Fisheries Agency.
Under the newly approved action plan, the Taiwan government has also made it mandatory for migrant fishermen on DWF vessels to have medical insurance coverage of at least NT$300,000, while their accidental insurance coverage has been increased from NT$1 million to NT$1.5 million.
Furthermore, migrant fishing crews of DWF fleets will no longer be permitted to remain at sea for more than 10 months at a time, according to the action plan.
The COA said the plan was devised to improve livelihoods and human rights in the field of distant water fishing. To that end, the COA said, it will step up its inspections of Taiwan’s approximately 1,100 DWF vessels and will encourage the installation of closed circuit television systems on board to allow for better monitoring of the work conditions.