Brief Two: Challenges faced by vessel owners in Taiwan’s distant water fishing industry

This briefing is the first in a series of three, drawn from the comprehensive report Profiling Taiwanese Distant Water Vessel Owners: A Missing Link for a More Ethical Fishing Supply Chain.

The Taiwanese distant water fishing industry is facing 4 key challenges, which puts increasing pressure on vessel owners as they struggle to continue earning profitable livelihoods. After presenting a detailed picture of who the vessel owners are in Brief 1, this brief explores those challenges associated with a managed shrinking of the industry. In the subsequent Brief 3, we attempt to explain how these challenges result in particular incentives that owners face, and we provide an analysis that explains many of the behaviours owners adopt, many of which result in negative outcomes for workers as well as the owners.

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