The new fishing agreement between Seychelles and Taiwan is now public. But will tuna fisheries sustainability improve as a result?

For several decades, The Seychelles has had private fishing access agreements with Taiwanese companies, - Taiwan Deep-sea Tuna Longline Boat Owners and Exporters Association (TTA), Top Fortune International (TFI) -, containing articles preventing Seychelles from divulging content of the agreements without prior written approval of the other party.

As part of the Fisheries Transparency Initiative (FiTI) reporting process, The Seychelles Government announced in 2021 it would endeavour to remove such confidentiality clauses from any future fisheries access agreement. Indeed, the non-disclosure clause, whilst guaranteeing the confidentiality, also made the dealings opaque. True to their word, when The Seychelles signed the new 3-year agreement with Taiwan end of 2022, it was announced that the texts related to the agreement were to be made public [Ed.: this article was updated on 12 January once the agreement was published].

However, putting the spotlight on Taiwanese longliners activities should not divert attention from the main factor affecting the recovery of tuna in the region are the activities of purse seiners. The latest FiTI report mentioned that, in 2020, purse seiners caught 70,000 metric tons (Mt) of tuna in The Seychelles EEZ (and 241,000 Mt in the whole Western Indian Ocean), whilst Taiwanese longliners declared tuna catches of 2,700 Mt in the Seychelles (and 3,100 Mt in Western Indian Ocean). Even taking into account the under-reporting by Taiwanese long-liners, the scale of operation is vastly different.

Taiwan, the main actor of tuna longline fisheries in Seychelles waters

Taiwan is the second largest DWF fleet globally, operating in the three major oceans. As of 2021, 619 Taiwanese tuna vessels, long liners and purse seiners are authorised to fish in the Pacific, 84 vessels in the Atlantic, and 277 vessels in the Indian Ocean. In the last decade, Taiwanese longliners seem to have been fishing less in Seychelles waters: the 2008 agreement allowed 120 longliners to fish in Seychelles waters, whilst in 2020, the number of Taiwanese longliners, as stated in the FiTI report, was down to 84.

For the new agreement, The Seychelles Principal Secretary for Fisheries highlighted that "among the changes we have made to the agreement is reducing the number of boats that could fish in Seychelles from 240 to 100, which also forms part of our responsibilities as a coastal nation to ensure that we do not open our waters to all boats, but instead ensure responsible and sustainable fisheries.”

Under-reporting of catches

The FiTI 2021 report highlighted that the industrial longline fishery, composed mainly by Taiwanese vessels, gave very partial catch data, and provided no data on discards. Taiwanese longliners did not offload their catch in Port Victoria, and instead transshipped at sea, on support vessels, to bring their catch to foreign markets. This practice facilitates longer periods at sea, but is also often denounced to hide illegal fishing and to facilitate un-reporting of catches. These transshipment operations instances are to be monitored and reviewed by The Seychelles Fishing Authority, and by the authorities of the country where the catches are finally landed.

A 2020 report informs, however, that many stakeholders they interviewed expressed skepticism about the real oversight of these vessels. Stakeholders underlined for example that the current observer coverage is only five percent. The report insisted that progress towards sustainable management of tuna fisheries, including the over-exploited yellowfin tuna which is now under restriction measures, “would need to be complemented by robust capacity building in order to ensure that there is significant enforcement at ports when vessels offload catch, as well as improved measures to monitor transshipment activity at sea’.”

The new agreement provides for Taiwanese vessels to visit at least once a year Port Victoria, which should facilitate the monitoring of catches by the Seychelles authorities. Photo by Seychelles Ports Authority/Wikimedia Commons.

It needs to be recalled that, in 2015, the European Union gave Taiwan a warning, on the basis of its IUU Fishing Regulation, due to “serious shortcomings in the fisheries legal framework, a system of sanctions that does not deter IUU fishing, and lack of effective monitoring, control and surveillance of the long-distance fleet. Furthermore, Taiwan does not systematically comply with Regional Fisheries Management Organisation (RFMO) obligations.”

In response, Taiwan underwent significant changes to its fisheries management laws. The recent FAO study on access arrangements lists these changes, which include:

• the Act for Distant Water Fisheries (2016);

• the Act to Govern Investment in the Operation of Foreign Flag Fishing Vessels (2016);

• a Strategy Plan for Auditing Industry Related to Distant Water Fisheries (2016-2018); and

• a National Plan of Action of Taiwan Province of China to prevent, deter and eliminate IUU Fishing (2013).

The following measures are the main features of the new system:

• a comprehensive revision of the legal framework of control over the DWF of Taiwan;

• the application of the FAO Agreement on Port State Measures (PSMA) to foreign-flagged vessels calling in Taiwanese ports;

• a comprehensive incorporation of the conservation and management measures of RFMOs into Taiwanese law;

• a reinforced VMS and an electronic logbook working in real time;

• an observer coverage in line with RFMO requirements;

• controls over investment in new vessels together with reduction of fleet numbers; and

• rationalization of global operations.

Some experts expressed concerns about the political will necessary to implement these changes, given competing priorities of addressing high international demand for sashimi quality tuna produced by the Taiwanese longliners. However, thanks to these progress, Taiwan’s “yellow card” was lifted by the EU in July 2019 and an EC-Taiwan joint task force was set up to monitor Taiwan progress in the fight against IUU fishing.

Labour abuses

Since the early 2000s, Taiwan has faced criticisms by NGOs, about labor abuses aboard Taiwanese distant water fishing vessels, with migrants being lost at sea and fishers enduring slave-like conditions on board. Greenpeace, for example, reported that, in 2019, some 21,994 migrant fishers from Indonesia and 7,730 from the Philippines were working on Taiwanese distant water fishing vessels. In several cases documented by the NGO, these migrant fishers reported withholding of wages; excessive overtime; physical and sexual abuse.

Horrific cases have also been reported over the years of killings on board Taiwanese fishing vessels, like a case in 2020, when a Filipino fisherman was imprisoned for life after killing eight crew members aboard a Taiwanese fishing vessel in 2019. Still recently, in April 2022, a Taiwanese vessel’s crew were indicted on charges relating to forced labour and physical abuse of Indonesian and Filipino fishers: “the migrant fishers were beaten and forced to work up to 20 hours a day. It is also alleged that some Muslim employees were given no choice but to eat pork, which is strictly prohibited by their religion.”

Taiwan has been strongly criticised by NGOs because of serious labour abuses: documented cases report withholding of wages; excessive overtime; physical and sexual abuse of migrant workers. An illustrative photo of a Taiwan fishing vessel operating in Nauru by Xiaoyang/Wikimedia Commons.

To address this situation, Taiwan has updated its rules, which now include reporting procedures for potential labor violations by its vessels, including those flying foreign flags, new rules governing labour practices on board. Within the fisheries administration, an audit unit has been established to enforce and prove compliance with these new rules.

Will the new agreement address the above-mentioned issues?

Although the text of the new Seychelles-Taiwanese company agreement is not yet known, the authorities have announced several changes that should “maximise Seychelles' gain from the fisheries activities done by these vessels,” as the Principal Secretary for Fisheries stated.

It is planned that Taiwanese longliners will now have to make at least one call per year at Port Victoria, for transshipment and landing. This is applicable initially to half of the vessels fishing under the agreement, and is to increase by 10 percent annually until the end of the agreement. “This will also mean more revenues for other entities, through bunkering with the Seychelles Petroleum Company (Seypec), and while in port, other services such as stevedoring,” the PS added.

The yearly visits to the port will also help with monitoring the catches made by these vessels, as will the Electronic Monitoring Systems (EMS) expected to be fitted on all vessels to monitor their activities. In line with obligations of the Indian Ocean Tuna Commission (IOTC), an Electronic Reporting System (ERS) will also be installed on board these vessels.

Regarding working conditions on-board, the agreement stipulates that the “employment of seamen on-board the Association fishing vessels shall be governed by the International Labour Organisation (ILO) Declaration on Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work,” including the principles of freedom of association, right to collective bargaining and the elimination of discrimination.

Improving Taiwanese fishing should not distract from the main issue: over-fishing by purse seiners

Together with the changes Taiwan introduced to its fisheries management laws and reporting procedures for labour laws violations on board its vessels, the conditions set up in the new agreement may help improving the sustainability of longline tuna fishing in The Seychelles waters. Making the agreement public contributes to shed light on the conditions made to Taiwanese fleets for operating in The Seychelles Economic Exclusive Zone (EEZ). It will be essential for the country’s citizens to scrutinise the text, and see how it helps address issues linked with Taiwanese fleets, namely under-reporting of catches and labour abuses.

However, most tuna catches in Seychelles waters, including for the over-exploited yellowfin tuna, are made by purse seiners of foreign origin, - some of which are reflagged to The Seychelles. These purse seiners also catch important amounts of juveniles and by-catch, triggered by an excessive use of fish aggregating devices (FADs). Although the activities of purse seiners in The Seychelles waters is deemed to be more transparent (catch data from all Seychelles-flagged purse seiners was provided for the entire calendar year 2020 based on 100% logbook return and is perceived as nearly complete and aggregated data from EU flagged vessels is provided as part of the Sustainable Fisheries Partnership Agreement), the action to address the purse seiners over-capacity, particularly linked to the use of FADs, has been slow. Such actions are not initiated by the government of Seychelles, but by the Indian Ocean Tuna Commission (IOTC).

The path towards sustainability requires more than transparency, it requires action, particularly at regional level.

Banner photo: Illustrative photo by Lisanto.

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