The tears of migrant fishers

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The tears of migrant fishers

Published: 28 Apr. 2025, 00:02

Audio report: written by reporters, read by AI

Won Ok-kum

The author is a representative of the Migrant Center Donghaeng and originally from Vietnam.

In documentary films that capture the grueling struggle against rough seas and storms, it has become increasingly common to see migrant fishers making a living in distant, unfamiliar waters.

Yet such documentaries rarely acknowledge the hardships lurking behind those scenes. They seldom explore the daily struggles that migrant fishermen endure to survive.

Even for Korean nationals, life as a fisher is far from easy. Working at sea means enduring irregular working hours, scarce opportunities for rest or sleep, and rushed meals snatched during brief pauses in labor. Such conditions are, in fact, legal, falling under exceptions to the Labor Standards Act. Moreover, work performed on the deck of a vessel, perpetually rocked by waves, is perilous, with accidents always a looming threat.

Against this backdrop, migrant fishers — who occupy the lowest ranks regardless of age or experience — bear not only all the hardships faced by their Korean colleagues but also endure additional injustices and abusive practices as immigrants. Suffering from high-intensity, long hours of labor, many develop chronic ailments such as back pain, yet timely medical treatment is often inaccessible. Even when hospital visits are possible, continuity of care remains elusive, and full recovery is rare. When migrant fishers request a transfer to another employer due to such hardships, it is common for their current employer to demand exorbitant fees, sometimes hundreds of thousands or even millions of won, as a condition for release. Employers often refuse to grant transfers but readily dismiss workers without notice during fishing moratoriums. In such cases, migrant fishermen are told to seek other employment because there are no wages to be paid during the off-season. If they fail to register for new employment promptly, they risk falling into undocumented status, with little recourse for redress.

[KIM JEE-YOON]

Counseling sessions with migrant fishers consistently reveal a troubling pattern: the contents of their labor contracts are often completely different from reality. Although actual wages agreed upon with employers are higher, contracts are typically drawn up at the legal minimum wage. This discrepancy has become so normalized that it is treated as standard practice. Some might argue that as long as the employers pay the promised amount, no harm is done. But a workaround remains a workaround — and it carries risks. Employers likely reduce their obligations for insurance and other contributions by recording lower wages. Should wage arrears occur, employers can claim that they owe only the amount stipulated in the contract. The same problem arises when calculating severance pay. Without documentary evidence to counter employer claims, migrant fishers are left defenseless. There have even been cases where employers, after withholding wages, asserted that they had overpaid compared to the contract and demanded reimbursement from the workers. Some shrewd employers avoid leaving any trace by paying the excess amounts in cash, making it difficult for authorities to intervene on the workers' behalf. In such cases, proving actual working hours — far exceeding those recorded in contracts — is no easy task, particularly for fishers, whose work environment lacks the clear clock-in and clock-out structure of land-based jobs.

Hundreds of fishing vessels are docked in Seogwipo harbor in Jeju due to the approach of Typhoon Haishen, on Sep. 6 2020. [YONHAP]

The situation becomes even graver when a migrant fisher suffers an accident. Last year, a Vietnamese fisher, referred to here as Le Van Minh (pseudonym), suffered a serious injury when his elbow was struck by a thick iron pillar on a vessel buffeted by rough waves, severing his tendon. During his recovery, he was entitled to injury compensation, but his employer filed for compensation based on the lower wage listed in the contract, drastically reducing the amount he received. He sought help from our center, and after considerable effort persuading the employer and submitting supporting evidence to the National Federation of Fisheries Cooperatives, we managed to secure a reassessment and correction. In this case, there was a fortunate outcome, but when employers refuse to cooperate or evidence is lacking, it is rare for the Federation to actively reexamine claims.

Wrongful practices must be corrected. The Ministry of Employment and Labor and other relevant authorities must urgently conduct investigations into the actual conditions of migrant fishers' employment and eliminate the entrenched practice of double contracting.

No one can deny that migrant fishers, laboring invisibly and enduring great hardship, play an indispensable role in supplying the diverse seafood on our tables. Only when they are no longer forced to shed unjust tears can we truly enjoy a bountiful table with a clear conscience.

Translated from the JoongAng Ilbo using generative AI and edited by Korea JoongAng Daily staff.