Brief Three: Obstacles and Incentives: Understanding the Decision-Making of Taiwanese Vessel Owners

Taiwan’s distant water fishing industry is pressured to meet international labour standards, like the International Labour Organization’s (ILO) C188 Convention, which promotes better working conditions for fishers. However, vessel owners face financial challenges that restrict their ability to provide such conditions. The nature of distant water fishing is akin to gambling, where profits (or losses) are determined by various factors that are often beyond the owners’ control. Economic pressures faced by vessel owners, such as the rising fuel prices, increased crew wages, and the depreciation of the Japanese yen, force them to carefully balance the costs of upgrading their vessels and improving labour conditions with the need to remain profitable

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