vessels employing foreign crew members under overseas contracts, labor conditions are regulated by the Act for Distant Water Fisheries and its related regulations. Specifically, Article 35 of the Regulations on the Authorization and Management of Overseas Employment of Foreign Crew Members grants authority for inspections related to cross-border human trafficking and fisheries labor rights. 70 Operators and captains are obligated to comply with such inspections. The Fisheries Agency has established the “Standard Operating Procedures for Labor Rights Inspections in Distant Water Fisheries” to guide inspections. These standards cover intermediaries, operators, and distant water fishing vessels. The agency has also hired specialized inspection personnel to conduct labor inspections on distant water fishing vessels. (1) Visits and inspections The Road to Migrant Fishers’ Rights special report highlighted criticisms of distant water fishing vessel inspections conducted by the Article 35 of the Regulations on the Authorization and Management of Overseas Employment of Foreign Crew Members: “Any fishing vessel with any employed foreign crew member shall accept the inspection(s) on matters as referred to in Article 32, paragraph 3 and regarding the labor rights in fisheries conducted by the personnel designated or commissioned by the competent authority, the municipal and county (city) governments when entering any port of the Republic of China. In case that a fishing vessel with employed foreign crew member(s) is abroad, it shall accept inspection(s) conducted by the personnel designated or commissioned by the competent authority, and shall not evade, obstruct, or refuse. The captain and crew member(s) being inspected as referred to in the preceding paragraph shall comply with the following provisions: (1) To facilitate the authorized inspector in prompt and safe embarkation for onboard inspection or inspection of onshore accommodation of foreign crew members. (2) To cooperate with the inspection and questioning of the inspector, including providing the crew list, the travel identity document(s) of the crew member(s), the crew identification(s), and all related documents. (3) Shall not attack, resist, threaten, interfere with, inappropriately obstruct or delay the inspector in carrying out his/her inspection duties. (4) To provide the space and equipment necessary for the inspector to carry out his/her tasks onboard. (5) To facilitate the inspector’s safe disembarkation.” 70 73