Taiwan News
Date: 2015-09-19
By: Associated Press

AMBON, Indonesia (AP) — Like more than 2,000 other fishermen rescued following

Slavery ordeal has left fisherman countryless. Associated Press (2015-09-19 11:38:44)

reporting by The Associated Press and a subsequent Indonesian investigation, an 18-year-old named Bing was forced to work on a fishing boat with no way to return to his homeland.

Unlike the others, he still can’t go back.

Abandoned by his parents at a young age, he says he was 12 years old and homeless, begging in the streets of Thailand, when he decided to work on a fishing trawler. He says he worked long hours for no pay. He believes he is Burmese, but the Myanmar Embassy says that because he cannot provide an address or relatives’ names, he will have to stay in Indonesia.

This is his story, in his own words, translated from Burmese and with editing for organization and length.     [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2015/09/19
By: Lu Kang-chun and Elaine Hou

Taipei, Sept. 19 (CNA) An Indonesian fisherman working on a Taiwanese fishing vessel has been confirmed dead, after the boat capsized off the coast of Taoyuan in northern Taiwan following a collision with a cargo ship Friday, coast guard officers said Saturday.

The body was discovered about 4.9 nautical miles from the location of the collision. The victim was confirmed to be one of the Indonesian fishermen working on board after the body was brought to the neighboring Tamsui Harbor for identity checks.

Eight other fishermen were still unaccounted for, as the search and rescue efforts continued on Saturday. They include one Taiwanese national who was the captain of the boat, as well as four Chinese and three Indonesian migrant workers.

Four of the Coast Guard Administration’s vessels are conducting a search near the location of the accident. The Navy’s Underwater Operations Unit also joined the effort.     [FULL  STORY]

Want’ China Times
Date: 2015-09-19
By: CNA

The search continued Friday night for nine fishermen who went missing after their boat

Coast Guard Administration personnel search for missing crew members of the fishing boat Shih Hui No. 31 in waters off Taoyuan, Sept. 18. (Photo/Coast Guard Administration)

capsized off the coast of Taoyuan following a collision with a cargo ship earlier in the early hours of the day.

The Coast Guard Administration (CGA) said six of its vessels and six fishing boats operating nearby mounted a search and rescue effort soon after the accident was reported. The Navy’s Underwater Operations Unit also joined the effort.

The rescue work was hampered by tangled fishing nets that made it impossible for divers to search two-thirds of the capsized vessel, including the ship’s bridge and hold.

Rescuers also found it difficult to try to get the vessel upright or move it because the fishing net got caught on coral reefs 70 meters deep.     [FULL  STORY]

Taipei Times
Date:  Sep 19, 2015
By: Abraham Gerber  /  Staff reporter

The adoption of stray animals should be included in evaluations of school performance,

Life Conservationist Association director Ho Tsung-hsun in Taipei yesterday announces the results of a national survey of animal adoptions in schools. Photo: Liao Chen-huei, Taipei Times

animal rights advocates said yesterday, announcing the results of a national survey of school adoptions.

“When the Ministry of Education evaluates a school’s ‘life education,’ one of the measures it should include is whether they have adopted a stray animal,” Animal Protection Administration Oversight Committee board member Wang Wei-chi (王唯治) told a press conference in Taipei.

“You can not just say there are exams on related material, you need to show cases demonstrating that your ‘life education’ is a success,” Wang said.

In addition to adopting stray animals, schools could also be evaluated based on how many students were involved in caring for the animal and reports on what they had learned, he said.     [FULL  STORY]

Taipei Times
Date: Sep 19, 2015

“Were it not for the hunchbacked seasoned soldier who phoned my family in the middle of

A soldier crawls over rocks under the baking sun during a military training drill on Dec. 30 last year in Kaohsiung.
軍事特訓中，軍人頂著艷陽在岩石上匍匐前進。攝於去年十二月三十日，高雄。
Photo: Tsai Ching-hua, Liberty Times
照片：自由時報記者蔡清華

the night, I could not have lived to this day,” says Hsueh Chao-chi, former chief of staff in then-Kaohsiung mayor Yeh Chu-lan’s administration. Hsueh hopes that he can find his savior from his army days and express his gratitude to him with NT$1 million.

Hsueh, who is 48 years old, says that as he reached middle age and reflected on his past years, he felt especially strongly about the nice things that have happened in his life, which could not have been possible without a phone call placed 23 years ago.

It was in the fall of 1992 that Hsueh was chosen to be dispatched to a special forces unit in Penghu, where he endured special rookie drills and, as a result, suffered multiple symptoms, including hematuria. He was then sent to a military clinic, where he lay on a bed, dying.

He faintly recalls that in his most helpless hours a seasoned soldier came to his side, speaking to him in Hoklo, “Give me a phone number. I assure you I will make the call. If your family cannot save you from the military, you will most certainly draw your last breath here.”     [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2015/09/18
By: Yang Shu-min and Kuo Chung-han

Taipei, Sept. 18 (CNA) A Pingtung-based fishing boat that had been detained in the Philippines for over three months left the port of San Vicente on Luzon Island and should return to Donggang Harbor on Friday evening, a Fisheries Agency official has said.

The Pingtung County-registered ship Der Man Fu No. 3 (得滿福3號) was seized by a Philippine patrol boat on June 11 for illegally entering Philippine territorial waters.

The ship was ready to return to Taiwan in late August after paying the necessary fines and fees and clearing legal procedures, but was trapped by Typhoon Goni for another two weeks.     [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2015/09/18
By: Yang Shu-min and Lilian Wu

Taipei, Sept. 18 (CNA) A Taiwanese ship has been caught violating the rules on harvesting

Greenpeace activists prepare to board illegal fishing vessel Shuen De Ching No 888. The Rainbow Warrior travels in the Pacific to expose out of control tuna fisheries. Tuna fishing has been linked to shark finning, overfishing and human rights abuses.

shark fins while operating on the high seas in the Pacific and will face disciplinary action upon its return to Taiwan, the Fisheries Agency said Friday.

Tsay Tzu-yaw (蔡日耀), director-general of the agency, said Coast Guard officers boarded the fishing boat, the Shuen De Ching No. 888, Thursday and completed its inspection the following day.

The officers confirmed that the boat had been finning sharks and throwing the bodies back into the sea. The boat’s hold has been sealed, Tsay said.

The Coast Guard ship is escorting the Pingtung-registered vessel back to Taiwan, a journey that will take about 25 days.     [FULL  STORY]