︱Road to Migrant Fishers’ Rights a country of registry with lax fisheries management that has neither the will nor the capability to enforce international fisheries management regulations. The practice of using FOC has long been a source of international disputes. In addition to the lack of transparency and difficulty of supervision, they have often been found to engage in IUU fishing activities and other illegal acts such as forced labor and human trafficking6. Taiwanese investment and operation of FOCs can be traced back to the fishing vessel obsolescence scheme established in the 1990s to regulate national catches. The fisheries administration in Taiwan follows the principle of “one-to-one replacement” for managing the number of fishing vessels where an older ship of equal tonnage must be retired for a new fishing ship to be built. Fishing ship operators adapted by investing in FOC fishing vessels. Many operators purchase used fishing vessels directly from Japan. The importation of fishing vessels is banned in Taiwan so these fishing vessels were registered in Panama, Equatorial Guinea, and Belize like merchant ships to become FOC fishing vessels7. 6. Please refer to p.32 of the Control Yuan Investigation Report approved on May 5, 2021 (110 財調0006): Flag of Convenience Vessel Management System Case. 7. Overseas Fisheries Development Council of The Republic of China (2016), Distant Waves (踏 浪千行), Global Views Commonwealth Publishing, p.156~159. 026