former Council of Agriculture. These criticisms included insufficient
inspection personnel, lack of labor inspection expertise, and a focus
primarily on fisheries management and illegal, unreported, and unregulated
(IUU) fishing. Additionally, labor inspections were limited by their
programmatic nature and lack of legal authority, resulting in low coverage
rates. Lin Ding-rong clarified the distinction between investigators and
inspectors:
“To be frank, our investigators in the past operated under a
programmatic framework so we couldn't grant them public authority.
They were referred to as 'investigators' in an indirect sense. However,
the new hires (fisheries labor inspectors) should have a quasi-public
servant status.”71
Measures have been taken under the “Action Plan for Fisheries and
Human Rights” to address previous criticisms of the Fisheries Agency’s
enforcement capacity. The Executive Yuan approved the hiring of
temporary personnel, including 60 positions dedicated to labor inspections
of fisheries. Additionally, Article 35 of the Regulations on the
Authorization and Management of Overseas Employment of Foreign Crew
Members was amended to establish the legal basis for inspections, granting
fisheries labor inspectors public authority to conduct inspections per the
law.
Kung Kun-tung, Chairman of Donggang Hohai Fisheries, noted that
vessel owners have reported redundancies in inspections. For instance,
after the Maritime and Port Bureau inspected a vessel’s fire extinguishers,
the Fisheries Agency also conducted its inspection of the same equipment,
requiring the crew to go through the process again. He suggested that there
71
NHRC (March 16, 2023). “Interview Record with Fisheries Division Chief Lin Ding-rong.”
74
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