TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — The American Institute in Taiwan (AIT) on Tuesday (Dec. 13) promoted the use of technology to help improve the human rights of migrant fishery workers.

At an international seminar in Kaohsiung, AIT Director Sandra Oudkirk said that Taiwan, as a global leader in technological innovation and as a staunch defender of freedom and human rights, could combine both to improve working conditions for workers in the distant-waters industry.

The technology projects concentrated on communications between the workers at sea and their families on shore, and on the strengthening of supervision, the Liberty Times reported. Working conditions, recruitment procedures, and fleet supervision all needed to be improved if Taiwan wanted to hold on to its dominant position in the sector, Oudkirk said.

The new technology was the result of cooperation with teams from National Taiwan Ocean University and National Cheng Kung University who received funding from AIT and from the Council of Agriculture’s Fisheries Agency.