The death of a crew member on a Chinese-owned trawler in the Indian Ocean illustrates the lack of accountability in the seafood industry, say advocates.

[…] Tens of thousands of Indonesian fishers […] leave home – sometimes for years at a time – to work on foreign boats. Vast numbers are subjected to abuse, with vessels owned by companies from either China or Taiwan the worst offenders, according to a report published in 2023.

Deaths […] are not uncommon, with more than 100,000 fishing-related deaths every year, according to estimates by the Pew Charitable Trusts, which says many are avoidable and most not officially recorded.

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Achmad Mudzakir, chair of the Indonesian Seafarers Gathering Forum advocacy group in Tawian, says: “These boats mattered more to the owners than our lives and safety.”

Taiwanese authorities have made some changes in recent years to improve protections for migrant fishers and sailors, including increasing the minimum wage to $550 a month and ordering direct payments that bypass recruitment agencies. There were also pledges to add CCTV and subsidise wifi on vessels, but there is no legal basis to compel shipowners to install it. Every fisher who spoke to the Guardian described wifi as a potential gamechanger for their working lives – allowing contact with home and an ability to report any mistreatment or other issues.

While Taiwan and South Korea have made some progress, “China is absolutely the same, if not worse”, says Steve Trent, the founder of EJF [Environmental Justice Foundation]. After recent allegations that its offshore fleets were illegally using forced labour of North Korean workers, Beijing said that all its fishing complies with international law.

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